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BUSINESS  ADMINISTRATION 

A  Library  of  Business  Principles,  Practice,  and  ExperienoQ 

Editor-in-Chief 
WALTER  D.  MOODY 

Late  General  Manager,  Chicago  Association  of  Commerce 

Managing  Director,  Chicago  Plan  Commission 

Author,  "Men  Who  Sell  Things" 

Managing  Editor 

WILLIAM  BETHKE,  M.A. 

General  Educational  Director  and  Secretary 
LaSalle  Extension  University 


LaSalle  Extension  University 


BUSINESS    ADMINISTRATION 

Being  an  organized  presentation  of  the  prob- 
lems of  business  management  prepared  by  an 
unusual   group  of  successful  and  authoritative 

Organizers,  Educators,  and  Business  Experts 


Irving  R.  Allen 

Vic*  President,  H.  W.  Kastor  6*  Sons 
Advertising  Company,  Chicago 

WiLLLiM  BeTHKE,  M.A. 
Educational  Director 
LaSaUe  Extension  University 

Ernest  Li  dlow  Bogart,  Ph.D. 

Bead  of  Department  of  Economics 
Vnirersity  of  Illinois 

Theodore  E.  Burton,  LL.D. 

Former  United  Slates  Senator 

Harry  J.  Carpenter 

National  Bank  of  Commerce 
New  York 

J.  VV.  COBEY 

Formerly  Traffic  Manager,  National  Cask 
Register  Company 

E.  F.  Dahm,  B.A. 

Associate  Educational  Director 
LaSaUe  Extension  University 
Formerly  Assistant  Director 
Retail  Research  Association 

Hugo  Diemer,  M.E. 

Director  of  Industrial  Courses 
LaSalle  Extension  University 
Formerly  Personnel  Superintendent 
Winchester  Repeating  Arms  Company 

Coleman  duPont 

Chairman,  Equitable  Office  Building 
Corporation,  New  York 

B.  C.  Forbes 

Business  and  Financial  Writer 

Louis  Gl^nther 

Editor.  "Financial  World" 

Arthur  B.  Hall,  A.B. 

HaU  &  EUis.  Real  Estate,  Chicago 

Fred  L.  Ham,  M.B.A. 

DireUor,  Department  of  Business 
Administration,  LaSalle  Extension 
University 

F.  C.  Henderschott 

New  York  Edison  Company 

Samuel  D.  Hisschl,  S.B.,  J.D. 
Harry  Arthur  Hope,  M.C.S. 

Organitation  Counsel 

Federal  Reserve  Bank,  New  York 

B.  Olney  Hough 

Editor,  "American  Exporter" 

E.  H.  Kastor 

B.  W.  Kastor  6*  Sons  Advertising 
Company,  Chicago 

Percy  H.  Johnston 

President,  Chemital  National  Bank 
New  York 


Edwin  Herbert  Lewis,  Ph  D.,  LL.D. 

Leiois  Institute,  Chicago 

Walter  D.  Moody 

Late  Managing  Director 
Chicago  Plan  Commission 

Hugo  Munsterberg,  Ph.D.,  LL.D. 
Paul  H.  Nystrom,  Ph.D. 

Director,  Retail  Research  Association 
New  York 

C.  C.  Parsons 

Secretary-Treasurer,  Collateral  Mortgage 
Corporation  of  New  York 

Joseph  M.  Regan 

Editor,  "Bankers'  Monthly" 

Alexander  H.  Revell 

President,  Alexander  B.  Revell  &• 
Company,  Chicago 

George  E.  Roberts 

Vice  President,  National  City  Bank 
New  York 

Maurice  H.  Robinson,  Ph.D. 

Professor  of  Industry 
University  of  Illinois 

Stanley  H.  Rose 

Foreign  Sales  Manager 
Barber  Asphalt  Company 

Charles  M.  Schwab 

Bethlehem  Steel  Corporation 

1.  Leo  Sharfman 

Professor  of  Political  Economy 
University  of  Michigan 

Edward  M.  Skinner 

General  Manager,  Wilson  Brothers 
Chicago 

J.  F.  Strombeck 

President,  Strombeck- Becker  Manufacturing 
Company,  Moline,  Illinois 

Theodore  N.  Vail 

Late  President,  American  Telephone 
and  Telegraph  Company 

F.  E.  Weakly 

General  Office  Manager.  Balsey,  Stuart 
b'  Company 

R.  S.  White 

Collection  Manager,  American  Steel  and 
Wire  Company,  Chicago 

H.  Parker  Willis,  Ph.D. 

Professor  of  Banking 
Columbia  University 
Director  of  Research,  Federal  Reserve  Board 

John  North  Willys 

President,  Willys-Overland  Company 

Richard  P.  Wilson 

Batavia  Rubber  Com-pany 


BUSINESS  PSYCHOLOGY 


HUGO  MUNSTERBERG,  Ph.D.,  M.D.,  LL.D. 

Late  Professor  of  Psychology,  Harvard  Unirersity;  Author  of 

Fsjchtltij  and  Lift,  fijthttktrafj,  PsychtUgf 

and  Induttrial  Eficitmcj,  etc. 


^  6 


La  Salle  Extension  University 

•    Chic  a  g^o     * 

1924 


Copyright,    1918 

All  Rights  Reserved  in  All  G)untri«« 

LaSalle  Extension  University 

Printed  in  the  U.S.A. 


PREFACE 


The  understanding  of  psychology  is  one  of  the  most 
important  roads  to  success  for  the  modem  business  man. 
Industrial  and  commercial  work  are  in  thousand-fold  con- 
tact with  the  mental  life.  Salesmanship  and  advertising, 
learning  and  training  for  technical  labor,  choosing  the 
right  position  and  selecting  the  right  employe,  greatest 
eflBciency  at  work  and  avoidance  of  fatigue,  treatment  of 
customers  and  of  partners,  securing  the  most  favorable 
conditions  for  work  and  adapting  the  work  to  one's  lik- 
ing, and  ever  so  many  other  problems  stand  today  before 
the  business  world  and  cannot  be  answered  but  by  psy- 
chology. 

To  reach  such  an  understanding  it  is  not  necessary  that 
the  business  man  enter  into  the  depths  of  all  those  dark 
questions  over  which  the  scientific  psychologists  are 
wrangling.  The  scholarly  volumes  on  psychology  written 
for  specialists  certainly  contain  much  which  would  be  of 
no  importance  for  the  practical  man.  It  is  the  aim  of  this 
volume  on  business  psychology  to  bring  together  those 
results  of  modern  psychological  thinking  which  are  sig- 
nificant for  the  work  of  the  business  man.  Yet  business 
psychology  too  is,  after  all,  psychology,  that  is,  a  science 
which  needs  serious  and  penetrating  study.  No  one 
ought  to  believe  that  a  science  can  be  mastered  in  any 
other  way  than  by  serious  study. 

Such  a  study  involves,  first  of  all,  the  laying  of  solid 
foundations.  We  must  therefore  plod  through  much  ma- 
terial which  seems  at  a  superficial  glance  unimportant 


vi  Preface 

for  a  business  man.  The  first  half  of  the  volume  hardly 
speaks  of  buying  and  selling  and  advertising  and  select- 
ing workers.  It  is  devoted  to  a  careful  treatment  of  per- 
ceptions and  memories  and  feelings,  but  this  apparently 
unpractical  study  is  needed  if  the  later  practical  discus- 
sions are  not  to  hang  in  the  air. 

Above  all,  the  volume  speaks  throughout  the  serious 
language  of  science.  Those  who  fancy  that  business 
affairs  ought  to  be  treated  in  the  snappy  way  of  the  popu- 
lar business  literature  will  feel  and  ought  to  feel  disap- 
pointed. Such  gingery  talks  about  business  as  are  usu- 
ally offered  to  business  men  are  very  entertaining  and 
amusing  and  sometimes  stimulating,  but  they  are  entirely 
unfit  to  convey  that  thorough  understanding  which  can 
be  gained  only  by  a  slow  upbuilding  through  serious 
study  of  difficult  material.  The  business  man  cannot 
doubt  that  imitations  can  never  fill  the  place  of  the  real 
goods.    There  is  no  substitute  for  thorough  study. 

Habtabd  Univibsitt.  Hugo  MtJNSTERBBBO. 


CONTENTS 


L    Business  and  Psychology 

Cultural  Progress 1 

Science  in  Industry 2 

Psychology  in  Industry 3 

The  Power  of  the  Mind  in  Business 5 

^     How  to  Study  Business  Psychology 7 

n.    Scope  and  Methods  op  Psychology 

The  Old  V.  the  New  Psychology 10 

The  Experimental  Method 11 

A  Modem  Psychological  Laboratory 13 

Object  of  Experiments 14 

.Ajiimal  Intelligence 15 

Abnormal  Psychology 16 

Psychology  and  Mysticism 16 

TTT.    The  Application  op  Psychology 

Prevailing    Prejudice    Against    Applied    Psy- 
chology    18 

Application  in  the  Schools. 19 

Application  in  Medicine 21 

Application  in  Law 21 

"Wider  Application  to  Life 22 

-«  Application  to  Business 24 

rV.    The  Mind  and  the  Body 

The  Material  for  Psychological  Study 27 

The  Individual  'a  Consciousness 28 

Consciousness  Revealed  by  Behavior 30 

The  Perceptions 32 

Will- Actions   33 

The  Unity  of  Bodily  and  Mental  Life 83 

The  Functions  of  the  Brain 35 

The  Neurons 36 

The  Physical  Basis  of  Human  Behavior 38 

The  Practical  Problem 39 

The  Three  Great  Factors  of  the  Mind 40 

vii 


viii  Contents 

V.    Sensation 

Nature  of  Sensation 42 

Complexity  of  Sensations 44 

Light  Impressions 44 

Sound  Sensations 49 

Taste  and  Smell  Sensations 51 

Our  So-caUed  Fifth  Sense 52 

Bodily  Sensations   54 

T^I.    The  Perceptions 

Grouping  of  Our  Sensations 57 

Space  Form  of  Our  Impressions 58 

Visual  Illusions 60 

Perception  of  Distance 64 

Space  Perception  in  Various  Parts  of  the  Body.  66 

Localization  of  Sounds 67 

Perception  of  Time 68 

[  Meaning  and  Impressions 70 

VII.    Memory  and  Ideas 

Memory's  Influence  on  Actions 73 

Impression  v.  Its  Reproduction 75 

Reproduction  of  Impressions. 77 

Laws  of  Memory 78 

The  Memory  Process S3 

Abstract  Ideas 85 

VIII.    Attention 

The  Nature  of  Reality 88 

Our  Relationship  to  Reality 89 

Nature  of  Attention 90 

The  Four  Attention  Processes '  91 

How  to  Secure  Attention 97 

How  to  Hold  Attention 99 

^Application  to  Business 100 

So-called  Monotony  in  Work 103 

Individual  Differences   104 

^Application  to  Selling 104 

Experimental  Investigatiwis 106 

IX.    Feeling  and  Emotion 

Relation  to  Attention 109 

The  Nature  of  Feeling 109 

The  Nature  of  Self 110 


Contents  ix 

Development  of  Personalities Ill 

Many  Personalities  in  the  Self 113 

Laws  of  Feeling 115 

Feelings  Affecting  Physical  Well-Being 117 

Complexity  and  Variety  of  Feelings 120 

Organic  Response  to  Feelings 123 

Nature  of  Emotions 124 

Aesthetic  Feelings 125 

The  Feeling  of  Value 128 

The  Value  of  Pleasure  in  Work 130 

Imagination    132 

X.    Impulse  and  Will 

The  Complexity  of  the  Will 135 

The  Unity  of  Mental  and  Physical  Acts 137 

Automatic  Actions 139 

Will-Actions   141 

Abnormal  Actions  142 

Development  of  Will- Actions 143 

Interplay    of    Automatic    Actions    and    Will- 
Actions  146 

*    Application  of  Principles  in  Business 147 

XI.    Suggestion 

Internal  and  External  Sources  of  Ideas 150 

Weakening  Internal  Resistance 152 

Nature  of  Suggestibility 153 

Hypnotism ., 154 

\    Practical  Uses  of  Suggestion 156 

\     Suggestion  in  Salesmanship 157 

"^  Suggestion  in  Advertising 161 

Self-Suggestions  162 

XII.    The  Acquirement  op  Abilities 

Physical  and  Mental  Unity 165 

Learning  by  Repetition 166 

Influence  of  Repetition  on  the  Nervous  System .  167 

Conscious  Effort  Required  in  Repetition 169 

Avoid  Exceptions  in  Repetition 170 

Repetition  in  Acquiring  Different  Habits  Side 

by  Side   171 

Organization  of  Complex  Habits 172 

Reaching  the  End  by  Distinct  Steps 174 

Keeping  the  End  in  View 176 

The  Value  of  Standardization  in  Industry 178 


:  Contents 

XIII.    The  Outer  Conditions  op  Efficiency 

The  Services  of  Psychology 181 

Adaptation  of  Working  Tools 182 

Psychological  Adaptation  of  Tools 183 

Individual  Adaptation  186 

Rhythmical  Action   186 

Psycho-Muscular  Adaptations 187 

Motion  Studies 188 

A  Proper  Environment 190 

XrV.    The  Inner  Conditions  op  Efpicienoy 

Nature  of  the  Inner  Conditions 194 

Effects  of  Alcohol 194 

Other  Stimulants 198 

Fatigue    199 

Rest  Periods , 200 

The  Use  of  Rest  Periods 201 

Individual  Reaction  to  Fatigue 202 

Blood  Circulation  in  Fatigue 203 

Mental  and  Emotional  Influences 205 

Psychological  Factors  in  Emotions ' 206 

Practical  Bearing   208 

XV.    Vocational  Fitness 

Misfits  in  Life 211 

Vocational  Bureaus 214 

Psychology  in  Vocational  Guidance 215 

Psychology  Required  in  Scientific  Management .  216 

XVI.    Individual  Mental  Traits 

Importance  of  Correct  Classification 219 

Use  of  Popular  Classifications 220 

Classifications  into  Contrasting  Tendencies. . .  .222 
Psychological    Method    of    Determining    Indi- 
vidual Traits   225 

Practical    Hindrances    to    Complete    Measure- 
ment   226 

Inherited  Dispositions   227 

Inclusiveness  of  Individual  Psychological  Ex- 
aminations   231 

The  Three  Baaac  Factors  in  Any  Calling 231 

Pi^chological  Tests  in  All  Three  Directions 233 


Contents  xi 

XVII.    SehjEction  of  Fit  Individuals 

Kinds  of  Examinations ^35 

Group  Psychologfy 236 

Correlaticm  Psychology 243 

The  Blackford  Plan 250 

Tests  for  Mental  Traits 256 

XVIII.    Mental  Tests 

Testimonials  and  Certificates 259 

Self-Observation 259 

Observation  of  the  Subjective  Factors 262 

Commercial  Psychological  Laboratories 263 

Practical  Tests 264 

Actual  Use  of  the  Tests 278 

Individual  EflSciency 286 


y 


(/  3  y^ 


BUSINESS  PSYCHOLOGY 


PART  ONE  — PRINCIPLES 

CHAPTER  I 
business  and  psychology 

Cultural  Progress 

In  no  direction  has  man  progressed  so  much  in  the  last 
two  thousand  years  of  civilization  as  in  his  commercial 
endeavors.  We  are  too  easily  inclined  to  fancy  that  man- 
kind has  changed  and  has  made  progress  in  every  line, 
but  that  is  certainly  an  illusion. 

No  buildings  have  been  built  in  the  twentieth  century 
so  beautiful  as  those  of  the  old  Greeks,  no  dramas  have 
been  written  so  wonderful  as  those  of  their  great  poets, 
no  philosophy  has  been  thought  so  significant  as  that 
of  the  great  Greek  thinkers,  and  the  statues  chiseled  two 
thousand  years  ago  are  still  models  for  our  generation. 
Our  legal  life  is  not  superior  to  that  of  the  old  Romans, 
nor  are  our  state  and  city  politics  essentially  different 
from  those  of  olden  times. 

Social  intercourse  has  not  changed  much — ^we  have  the 
same  motives,  the  same  hopes  and  fears,  ambitions  and 
jealousies.  Man  is  the  same  in  his  family  circle ;  man  is 
the  same  before  his  God.  We  are  driven  by  hunger  and 
desire  for  power,  by  love  and  reverence,  like  untold  gen- 
erations before  us. 

1 


2  Business  Psychology 

SCIENCB  IN   InDUSTBY 

But  in  the  eoonomic  life  with  its  production  of  goods 
for  practical  use  and  their  transportation  and  distribu- 
tion and  the  exchange  of  possessions  the  change  is  indeed 
a  fundamental  one.  The  modem  factory  and  the  modern 
credit  system,  the  modern  railway  and  steamer  and  cable 
are  incomparable  with  the  primitive  methods  of  mankind 
or  with  anything  which  antiquity  or  mediaeval  times  or 
even  recent  centuries  have  produced.  It  seems  as  if  we 
could  nowhere  measure  the  progress  of  the  civilised 
human  race  more  directly  than  in  the  glorious  changes  in 
commerce  and  industry.  Every  feature  of  the  market 
and  of  production  has  been  influenced  by  the  wonderful 
inventions  and  discoveries  and  no  less  by  the  splendid 
achievements  in  new  methods  of  exchange  and  organiza- 
tion. Harvesting  machines  have  replaced  the  primitive 
tools  of  the  past;  electric  wires  spin  a  net  of  communi- 
cation over  the  lands  of  the  world  which  are  united  by 
conmierce  and  industry;  powerful  works  of  human  in- 
vention dig  the  mines ;  and  in  the  factories  operations  are 
performed  to  which  the  highest  scientific  work  of  the 
physicist  and  chemist  had  to  show  the  way. 

Yes,  there  seems  to  be  no  science  in  our  universities 
which  has  not  contributed  to  this  victory  of  the  practical 
desires  of  man  over  stubborn  nature.  The  knowledge  of 
mineralogists  and  botanists  and  zoologists,  of  mechanic- 
al engineers  and  electricians,  of  physiologists  and  chem- 
ists, has  been  brought  into  service.  The  co-operation  of 
the  whole  world  is  so  complete  that  we  are  no  longer 
aware  how  many  hundreds  of  thousands  have  to  work 
with  the  most  perfect  instruments  of  modem  transporta- 
tion and  factory  production  to  satisfy  our  needs.  If  we 
sit  down  to  a  meal  and  use  the  plate  and  the  glass,  the 


Business  and  Psychology  3 

fork  and  the  spoon  and  the  napkin,  and  take  the  sugar 
and  the  pepper  or  what-not,  we  give  no  thought  to  those 
thousand-fold  processes  which  were  necessary  to  bring 
each  of  those  products  to  the  grasp  of  our  hand.  We  take 
it  for  granted  that  the  best  machines  have  worked  for  us 
to  weave  the  napkin  and  refine  the  sugar. 

All  the  knowledge  of  the  century  is  thus  made  contribu- 
tory to  the  production  and  distribution  of  the  economic 
goods  of  the  world,  and  science  is  the  real  foundation  on 
which  the  business  of  our  time  rests,  however  little  the 
individual  business  man  may  be  aware  of  the  tremendous 
amount  of  intellectual  work  which  was  necessary  for 
every  forward  step  in  practical  life.  He  presses  the  elec- 
tric button  at  his  desk  to  call  the  office  boy  or  touches  a 
switch  to  light  the  room ;  he  uses  the  telephone  or  sends 
a  wireless  message,  and  gives  no  moment's  thought  to 
the  fact  that  numberless  scholars  in  their  laboratories 
had  to  devote  their  energies  to  the  securing  of  these  sim- 
ple effects. 

Psychology  in  Industky 

In  this  situation  of  our  present  day  in  which  everybody 
in  the  world  of  affairs,  the  captain  of  industry  and  the 
worst-paid  workingman,  the  banker  and  his  office  boy, 
the  merchant  and  the  clerk,  knowingly  or  unknowingly 
make  the  fullest  use  of  the  results  of  science,  it  is  a  strik- 
ing contrast  to  see  how  pitifully  little  use  is  made  of  that 
science  which  deals  with  the  human  mind.  The  science 
of  the  human  mind,  psychology,  is  today  as  solid,  as 
scholarly,  and  as  much  worked  out  as  the  science  of  phys- 
ical and  chemical  nature ;  and  its  field  is  surely  no  smaller, 
since  the  whole  world  of  man's  thinking  and  feeling  and 
doing  and  remembering  and  attending  and  willing  is 
involved. 


4  Business  Psychology 

But  the  progress  of  economic  life  has  hardly  been 
touched  by  the  stream  of  knowledge  which  flows  from 
this  psychological  source.  The  psychological  expert  is 
hardly  heard  of,  while  his  older  brothers,  the  electrical 
expert  and  the  chemical  expert,  are  much  sought  and 
respected  everywhere.  Yet  we  have  only  to  look  around 
us  in  the  commercial  and  industrial  spheres  to  discover 
quickly  that  after  all  the  human  mind  plays  the  greatest 
role  and  deserves  the  most  thorough  study  by  everyone 
who  would  succeed  in  business  life. 

It  is  certainly  important  to  know  the  machines  in  the 
factory,  and  only  when  the  machines  are  well  cared  for 
and  well  adjusted  to  their  purpose  can  the  manufacturer 
hope  that  his  industrial  output  will  be  better  than  that  of 
his  rivals.  But  is  the  mind  of  the  workingman  not  of 
equal,  or  rather,  of  higher  importance  in  the  work  of  the 
factory?  How  can  we  expect  the  best  output  if  we  are 
interested  only  in  the  purely  technical  side  of  the  process 
and  ignore  the  great  and  significant  fact  that  a  man  with 
feelings  and  emotions,  with  ideas  and  impulses,  with 
memory  and  attention,  stands  behind  the  machine  and 
has  to  serve  and  has  to  master  it?  If  his  attention  flags, 
if  his  mental  fatigue  interferes  with  his  best  work,  if  his 
interests  carry  him  away,  if  he  has  not  the  right  mental 
power  to  discriminate  what  he  ought  to  discriminate, 
must  not  the  work  suffer  even  more  than  by  an  out-of- 
date  machine? 

The  business  house  may  be  installed  with  a  splendid 
equipment,  the  department  store  may  be  a  model  estab- 
lishment, the  banking  house  may  have  its  special  wires 
and  the  best  adding  machines;  yet  success  and  failure 
must  depend  upon  the  achievements  of  those  who  sit  at 
the  desks  or  who  walk  the  floor  or  who  stand  behind  the 
counter,  and  these  achievements  depend  ultimately  upon 


Business  and  Psychology  5 

the  mental  powers  of  the  employer  and  the  employe. 
Their  intellect  and  character,  their  talent  and  tempera- 
ment, are  a  thousand  times  more  important  and  decisive 
than  the  splendor  of  the  technical  equipment.  If  the 
right  men  are  in  the  right  places  and  if  the  work  is  ad- 
justed to  the  mental  conditions  and  mental  demands,  any 
difficulties  can  be  overcome.  On  the  other  hand  if  the 
needs  of  the  mind  are  neglected,  if  faulty  minds  are  at 
work,  if  the  service  and  output  are  not  adjusted  to  the 
desires  and  feelings  of  the  mind,  the  results  will  be  de- 
plorable, however  well  the  technical  expert  may  have 
done  his  share. 

The  Power  op  the  Mind  us  Busin:ess 

All  husiness  is  ultimately  the  affair  of  minds.  It. 
starts  from  minds,  it  works  through  minds,  it  aims  to 
serve  minds.  By  industry  and  commerce  and  transpor- 
tation alike  the  demands  of  minds  are  to  be  satisfied. 
And  every  step  needed  for  this  satisfaction  involves  the 
attention,  the  thought,  the  ideas,  the  emotions,  the  in- 
stincts, the  impulses  of  human  minds.  Is  it  not  absurd 
to  call  the  best-trained  specialists  for  the  supervision  of 
those  machines  and  yet  to  be  satisfied  with  the  most 
superficial,  amateurish  impressions  when  it  comes  to 
the  judgment  on  that  much  more  important  factor  in  the 
play,  the  human  mind?  The  manufacturer  takes  it  for 
granted  that  the  chemical  process  by  which  he  dyes  his 
wares  must  be  judged  by  chemists.  But  whether  the 
minds  of  his  thousands  of  employes  are  in  the  right 
attitude,  are  prepared  for  the  work,  and  are  able  to  per- 
form it  by  their  inborn  make-up  is  left  to  the  fancies  of 
the  foreman  without  ever  consulting  the  psychologist  who 
devotes  his  studies  to  such  problems  of  the  mind.  It  is 
as  if  a  barrier  separated  the  quiet,  scholarly  investiga- 


6  Business  Psychology 

tione  of  the  student  of  the  mind  from  the  practical  work 
of  those  whose  success  depends  upon  an  understanding 
of  the  mind. 

We  can  hardly  imagine  that  this  would  happen  in 
any  other  field.  As  soon  as  the  scholars  have  made  their 
discoveries  in  the  physical  laboratory,  these  are  at  once 
carried  into  the  market ;  new  machines  are  built  and  only 
the  latest  is  welcome.  But  the  faithful  study  of  the  mind 
is  left  to  the  psychological  scholars,  and  the  market, 
which  is  entirely  dependent  upon  the  working  of  the 
mind,  remains  untouched  by  such  knowledge.  Every- 
thing goes  on  as  it  did  thousands  of  years  ago.  Every- 
body feels  sure  that  he  knows  enough  about  the  life  of 
the  human  soul.  Everybody  behaves  as  if  it  were  very 
difl5cult  to  understand  the  physics  and  chemistry  of  the 
commercial  products,  of  the  raw  material,  and  of  the 
machines,  and  as  if  it  were  important  to  gather  all  pos- 
sible expert  knowledge,  but  at  the  same  time  everybody 
feels  certain  that  he  knows  enough  about  the  mind  of  the 
customer  and  the  mind  of  the  workingman,  about  the 
mind  of  the  clerk  and  the  mind  of  the  advertisement 
reader,  about  the  mind  of  the  manufacturer  and  the  mind 
of  the  salesgirl.  Here  too  he  shows  not  the  slightest 
interest  in  drawing  on  the  knowledge  of  the  expert 
and  making  the  fullest  use  of  the  scientific  discoveries. 

This  attitude  must  be  fundamentally  changed,  and  the 
last  few  years  have  brought  a  most  promising  beginning 
of  such  a  change.  Interest  in  the  science  of  mental  life 
has  been  awakened  in  the  circles  of  commerce  and  in- 
dustry, various  conditions  have  favored  it,  and  not  a 
few  far-seeing  business  men  and  many  ambitious  young 
men  recognize  that  the  commercial  success  of  the  future 
will  depend  still  more  upon  the  mastery  of  mind  than 
upon  the  mastery  of  matter.     Man  is  more  important 


Business  and  Psychology  7 

than  the  machine,  thoughts  more  valuable  than  equip- 
ment   Personality  is  the  biggest  factor  in  business. 

How  TO  Study  Business  Psychology 

But  it  is  sure  that  such  better  knowledge  of  the  human 
mii:d  as  it  enters  into  the  market  of  the  world  cannot 
be  supplied  by  a  mere  superficial  gossiping  about  the 
mysteries  of  the  mind.  No  one  will  have  real  technical 
control  of  nature  who  knows  about  natural  science  only 
anecdotes  and  curious  little  details.  He  must  enter  into 
a  solid  study  of  the  natural  facts  which  the  scientists 
of  the  age  have  cleared  up  in  their  laboratories.  It  is 
not  in  the  least  different  with  the  science  of  the  mind. 
Today  mere  freak  stories  of  queer  mental  happenings 
or  uncanny  reports  of  mental  abnormities  can  never  be  a 
substitute  for  a  thorough,  detailed  acquaintance  with  the 
laws  of  mental  behavior.  The  man  of  affairs  who  wants 
to  shape  events  in  the  sphere  of  the  mind  must  have  the 
energy  to  study  the  psychological  science  from  its  foun- 
dations. He  must  not  ask  at  every  step  whether  this 
bit  of  information  can  be  of  use  at  his  desk  in  the  office 
or  in  the  factory.  He  must  at  first  make  himself  ac- 
quainted with  important  facts  without  always  keeping 
an  eye  on  the  practical  application.  In  short,  he  must 
study  psychology  as  if  he  had  a  pure  interest  in  the 
understanding  of  the  principles,  just  as  an  engineer 
must  learn  his  mathematics  without  asking  eagerly  at 
every  new  equation  whether  he  can  make  use  of  it  in 
drawing  his  design. 

The  student  of  psychology  who  has  the  interests  of 
commerce  and  industry  and  of  personal  efficiency  at  the 
bottom  of  his  mind  must,  of  course,  not  be  drawn  into 
byways  which  may  lead  to  other  fields  of  life.  But  in 
those  chief  roads  to  the  understanding  of  man  he  must 


8  Business  Psychology 

aim  toward  a  thorough  knowledge.  The  essential  con- 
dition for  all  this  is  only  that  he  be  convinced  that  mod- 
em psychology  is  really  an  exact,  careful  science,  like 
the  sciences  of  nature,  and  that  this  modem  psychology 
has  something  of  real  value  to  offer  to  the  man  of  prac- 
tical life. 

But  let  us  not  forget  that  there  is  no  business  psychol- 
ogy outside  of  the  one  great  psychological  science.  Busi- 
ness psychology  means  a  psychology  in  which  the  chief 
emphasis  is  laid  on  those  mental  functions  which  are 
significant  for  business  life  and  in  which  so  far  as  pos- 
sible the  other  aspects  of  psychology  are  omitted.  If 
anyone  were  to  try  to  present  business  psychology  with- 
out going  into  the  study  of  the  foundations,  principles, 
and  laws  of  psycholo^  in  general,  he  would  offer  useless 
and  misleading  material.  The  business  man  would  at 
first  feel  more  at  home,  because  he  would  hear  talk  about 
the  matters  of  his  daily  concern,  but  at  the  end  he  would 
stand  where  he  stood  at  the  beginning.  He  would  not 
see  the  real,  deeper  connections  of  the  facts,  and  these 
alone  can  help  him  to  go  beyond  the  commonplaces  of 
daily  practice. 

Business  psychology  is  psychology,  or  it  is  nothing  at 
all.  Hence  we  shall  not  be  afraid  to  discuss  many  points 
and  principles  which  seem  difficult.  Only  he  who  has  the 
energy  to  master  the  theory  can  reach  a  point  at  which 
he  sees  his  mental  surroundings  with  a  psychologizing 
eye.  As  soon  as  he  succeeds  in  that,  he  can  solve  any 
special  problem  for  himself  and  is  made  independent  of 
any  unscientific  chance  advice.  The  basic  theory  is  in 
the  end  the  most  practical. 


Business  and  Psychology  9 

TEST  QUESTIONS 

1.  Has  the  progress  of  civilization  been  uniform  in  all  direc- 
tions ? 

2.  What  has  brought  about  the  tremendous  development  in 
industrial  progress  during  the  last  fifty  years  ? 

3.  Have  you  ever  taken  an  inventory  at  the  close  of  the  day  to 
see  how  many  inventions  and  contributions  from  science  served 
you  in  your  activities  of  the  day  ? 

4.  How  can  psychology  contribute  to  industrial  progress? 

5.  Why  has  psychology  been  neglected  in  practical  business 
affairs? 

6.  Have  you  ever  observed  work  where  the  mechanical  equip- 
ment seemed  to  be  modern  and  complete,  but  where  the  psy- 
chological conditions  for  the  work  were  most  unfavorable  ? 


CHAPTER  n 
scope  akd  methods  of  psychology 

The  Old  v.  the  New  Psychology 

The  psychology  of  a  not  far  distant  past  had  very 
little  to  present  which  could  have  promised  help  in  ques- 
tions of  industry  and  commerce,  of  production  and  trans- 
portation, of  selling  and  buying,  and  in  all  which  pertains 
to  them.  That  psychology  of  old  was  first  of  all  con- 
cerned with  the  nature  of  the  human  soul,  its  freedom, 
and  its  immortality.  Great  thinkers  devoted  themselves 
to  such  thoughts  concerning  the  life  of  the  soul,  but  the 
questions  were  approached  from  the  point  of  view  of 
the  general  philosopher.  Their  results  were  very  valu- 
able and  inspiring,  just  as  the  thoughts  of  the  philoso- 
phers about  God  and  the  universe  are  of  highest  import. 

Yet  it  is  clear  that  there  is  a  great  difference  between 
a  philosopher's  speculating  about  the  universe  without 
and  a  physicist's  sitting  down  in  his  workshop  and  ex- 
amining the  special  properties  of  the  material  things. 
He  alone  creates  that  detailed  physical  science  which  is 
sharply  separated  from  the  philosopher's  ideas  about 
the  world.  This  same  development  occurred  in  the  study 
of  the  inner  life.  Here  too  the  old  thoughts  about  the 
soul  had  an  aim  entirely  different  from  that  of  the  new 
work. 

Today  the  psychologist  is  not  concerned  with  philo- 
sophical ideas  about  the  soul,  but  he  examines  the  facts 
of  our  inner  experience  and  analyzes  and  describes  them 

10 


Scope  and  Methods  11 

with  the  same  scientific  cahnness  with  which  the  natural- 
ists study  chemicals.  He  finds  that  feelings  and  ideas 
and  acts  of  will  come  and  go  in  his  inner  life ;  he  under- 
stands that  his  neighbor  also  has  such  feelings  and  ideas 
and  desires  and  impulses ;  and  now  he  simply  asks  from 
what  elements  they  are  composed,  according  to  what  laws 
they  act,  how  they  develop,  and  how  they  can  be  ex- 
plained. This  is  no  longer  the  interest  of  the  philosopher 
who  moves  in  general  ideas,  but  it  is  a  very  concrete, 
detailed  examination  of  a  material  which  is  accessible 
to  everyone.  There  is  nobody  who  does  not  find  such 
ideas,  feelings,  and  will-acts  in  himself. 

Thus  the  modern  psychologist  lays  all  speculations 
aside  and  examines  the  facts.  Only  through  this  funda- 
mental change  of  attitude  can  he  become  useful  for  prac- 
tical purposes.  Speculations  about  nature  are  not  suf- 
ficient to  build  a  machine,  and  speculations  about  the  soul 
are  not  suflBcient  to  prevent  the  overfatigue  of  a  working- 
man,  or  to  attract  a  customer  to  the  window  display,  or 
to  select  the  best-fitted  man  as  salesman,  or  to  develop 
the  abilities  of  a  bookkeeper.  We  must  know  the  actual 
experiences  and  their  connections  with  causes  and  effects. 

The  Experimental  Method 

This  new  trend  of  modern  psychology  did  not  begin 
suddenly,  but  the  decisive  time  came  when  the  psycholo- 
gists began  to  admit  the  method  of  experimenting;  and 
this  happened  about  forty  years  ago.  The  facts  which 
were  discussed  in  earlier  times  were  gathered  by  chance 
observations.  Indeed  there  are  many  mental  facts  re- 
corded in  the  psychological  books  of  the  old  Greeks  and 
Romans  and  through  two  thousand  years  in  the  scholarly 
books  of  many  nations.  But  when  those  older  authors 
wrote  about  memory  or  attention  or  feeling,  they  knew 


12  Business  Psychology 

these  facts  about  the  mind  only  through  haphazard  ex- 
periences, not  as  the  result  of  scientific  analysis. 

Everybody  has  gone  through  acts  of  remembering  or 
attending,  has  been  full  of  joy  or  grief,  and  therefore  it 
seems  as  if  everj'body  knew  these  contents  of  the  mind 
and  could  describe  them.  But  no  naturalist  would  be 
satisfied  if  he  were  to  describe  the  chemical  constitution 
of  salt  and  sugar  only  from  his  chance  acquaintance  with 
them  at  the  dinner  table.  If  he  wants  to  find  out  what 
salt  and  sugar  really  are,  he  experiments  with  them,  he 
resolves  them,  and  mixes  them  with  other  material  and 
analyzes  them  with  his  subtle  instruments  in  the  chemical 
laboratory.  All  the  triumphs  of  modem  science  have 
been  dependent  upon  this  method  of  experimenting.  Only 
he  who  experiments  can  vary  the  course  of  events  and  can 
influence  it  so  that  he  may  study  how  a  change  of  con- 
ditions produces  a  change  of  effects. 

The  psychologists  recognized  that  this  method  alone 
could  lead  the  study  of  the  mind  also  to  the  height  which 
the  natural  sciences  had  reached.  They  too,  therefore, 
began  to  make  themselves  independent  of  chance  ex- 
periences. They  did  not  wish  to  wait  until  salt  and 
sugar  appeared  on  the  dinner  table  of  life ;  they  did  not 
wish  to  wait  until  they  had  to  remember  or  to  attend  a 
thing,  until  they  had  to  feel  joy  or  sadness,  until  they 
accidentally  heard  tones  and  saw  colors,  formed  thoughts 
and  volitions ;  but  they  called  up  the  mental  functions  for 
the  purpose  of  scientific  analysis. 

If  the  aim  is  to  study  memory,  the  modem  experi- 
menter does  not  simply  think  about  how  his  memory 
acted  on  a  certain  occasion.  He  takes  a  set  of  words  or 
figures  or  syllables  and  studies  how  often  he  must  repeat 
them  before  his  memory  holds  them,  what  the  influence 
of  pauses  is,  what  the  influence  of  rhythmical  speaking 


Scope  and  Methods  13 

is,  how  mucli  is  left  after  ten  minutes,  how  much  after  an 
hour,  how  much  the  success  depends  upon  the  seeing  or 
upon  the  hearing  of  those  words  or  the  seeing  and  hear- 
ing of  them  together,  how  much  depends  upon  the  direc- 
tion of  the  attention  during  the  learning  process,  and  a 
hundred  other  experimental  problems. 

As  soon  as  the  question  is  formulated  in  this  way  he 
can  gain  exact  results ;  he  is  free  from  all  vague  specula- 
tion. He  can  demonstrate  by  definite  figures  that  this 
method  of  learning  is  good  and  that  that  method  is  poor, 
that  this  scheme  improves  the  memory,  and  that  that  way 
simplifies  the  learning.  The  experimental  method  de- 
manded special  workshops,  and  it  is  not  more  than  thirty- 
five  years  since  the  first  laboratory  of  this  kind  was 
founded.  But  the  movement  has  made  rapid  progress. 
Today  such  laboratories  for  experimental  study  of  the 
mind  are  used  in  every  civilized  country  and  more  than 
a  hundred  are  established  in  the  United  States  alone. 

A  Modern  Psychological  Laboratory 

A  visit  to  a  psychological  institute  would  hardly  sug- 
gest to  the  casual  guest  that  it  has  anything  to  do  with 
the  mind.  Our  Harvard  laboratory  has  not  less  than 
forty  rooms.  The  electric  wires  bring  different  currents 
to  every  wall.  Large  instrument  cases  recall  the  appa- 
ratus of  a  physical  laboratory.  A  big  workshop  with  its 
lathe  for  metal  work  in  which  a  mechanic  is  busy  from 
morning  to  night  provides  the  students  with  the  newest 
equipment  for  special  researches.  Eight  rooms  are  en- 
tirely black  so  that  no  light  may  be  reflected  from  their 
surface;  one  room  is  sound-proof.  In  some,  very  subtle 
instruments  are  installed  to  measure  the  shortest  time 
intervals  with  the  exactitude  of  a  thousandth  of  a  second ; 
in   others,   very  complicated   arrangements    allow   the 


14  Business  Psychology 

worker  to  take  a  record  of  the  smallest  changes  in  pulse 
or  breathing,  in  muscle  contractions  or  in  the  flowing  of 
the  blood  to  the  arm.  In  short,  everything  suggests 
interest  in  bodily  material  processes,  and  nothing  betrays 
the  predominant  activity  of  this  scientific  institute,  the 
study  of  the  mind. 

Object  op  Experiments 

Yet  such  an  impression  would  be  entirely  misleading. 
Not  one  of  the  questions  raised  here  deals  with  the  body 
as  such.  Everything  has  ultimate  reference  to  the  inner 
life,  to  the  conscious  experience.  Measuring  the  time 
intervals  in  thousandths  of  a  second  is  for  us  only  a 
means  to  measure  the  length  of  a  mental  act.  We  want 
to  know  how  long  it  takes  to  understand  an  idea  or  to 
connect  two  thoughts  or  to  discriminate  two  colors  or  to 
perform  a  will-act.  Again  when  we  study  the  heart-beat 
or  the  respiration  or  the  activities  of  the  glands  or  of 
the  muscles,  we  care  for  them  only  because  they  are  the 
expressions  of  our  inner  emotions,  of  our  joys  and  sur- 
prises and  angers  and  fears.  If  we  use  our  dark  rooms 
and  sound-proof  rooms,  it  is  not  because  we  make  investi- 
gations concerning  the  lights  or  sounds  in  the  outer 
world,  but  because  we  want  to  understand  the  color  sen- 
sations and  the  tone  sensations  which  we  find  in  our 
minds  and  from  which  we  must  build  up  the  complex 
sense  experiences  in  our  consciousness.  Not  the  color 
and  the  tone,  but  the  seeing  of  the  colors  and  the  hearing 
of  the  tones  is  our  problem ;  not  the  movements  which  we 
perform,  but  the  will  to  perform  them  and  the  attention 
directed  to  them  are  what  we  investigate  in  a  psycho- 
logical laboratory. 

But  the  chief  feature  is  that  these  physical  instruments 
allow  us  to  produce  those  mental  states  whenever  we  need 


This  picture,  al(  _  n  a  few  others  found  in  this  volume,  illustrates 
some  of  the  most  familiar  instruments  used  in  our  psychological  laboratories. 

On  the  left  side  of  the  table  stands  a  ehronoscope,  the  standard  instrument 
for  measuring  mental  processes  in  thousandths  of  a  second.  The  lower 
larger  dial  of  this  ehronoscope  indicates  the  whole  seconds  and  the  tenths 
of  a  second,  the  upper  smaller  dial  the  hundredths  and  the  thousandths  of  a 
second.  The  pointers  go  as  long  as  an  electric  current  passes  through  the 
ehronoscope. 

In  the  experiment  shown  here  the  electric  current  is  closed  at  the  moment 
when  the  apparatus  in  the  center  of  the  table  exposes  a  word,  and  it  is 
opened  when  the  experimenter  speaks,  as  the  movements  of  his  lips  break 
the  electric  current.  The  ehronoscope  shows  the  time  from  the  seeing  of 
the  word  to  the  reacting  by  the  speech  movement. 

Beaetion  time  measurements  and  their  practical  application  are  explained 
later  in  the  text. 


Scope  mid  Methods  15 

them  for  our  obeervations.  We  do  not  know  any  function 
of  the  mind  which  cannot  be  brought  under  such  experi- 
mental observation.  At  the  threshold  of  the  work  a  gen- 
eration ago  only  very  simple  problems  were  carried  into 
the  laboratory,  especially  those  of  sensations  and  im- 
pulses. But  every  year  opened  new  vistas.  Today  even 
the  finest  shades  of  inner  life,  the  subtlest  thoughts,  and 
richest  feelings  can  be  approached  by  the  experimental 
method.  Much  which  a  few  years  ago  seemed  still  inac- 
cessible has  been  conquerQd  by  the  new  laboratory 
schemes. 

Animal  iNTEiiiiGENCE 

While  the  introduction  of  the  experiment  has  secured 
the  means  of  mastering  the  processes  of  the  human  mind, 
the  newer  development  of  psychology  has  profited  no  less 
from  an  expansion  in  other  ways.  The  visitors  in  our 
Harvard  laboratory  will  find  not  a  few  rooms  with  cages 
and  vivariums  and  tanks.  Eingdoves  can  be  heard  and 
turtles  seen.  Yes,  animals  as  low  as  the  earthworm  and 
as  high  as  the  monkey  are  studied  in  our  animal  depart- 
ment. Here  too  it  is  the  mental  aspect  which  interests 
us,  the  intelligence  of  the  birds  or  reptiles  or  mammals, 
their  memory-power,  their  achievement  of  attention,  their 
emotions,  their  decisions  to  move  hither  or  thither.  The 
time  has  long  passed  when  the  story  of  the  animal 's  mind 
was  based  on  the  gossip  of  the  hunter  or  on  curious  ex- 
periences with  ants  and  bees.  Experiment  has  taken  con- 
trol of  the  whole  field.  Everything  is  carefully  measured 
and  through  comparison  of  these  mental  functions  in  the 
beasts  new  light  is  thrown  on  the  working  of  the  human 
mind. 


16  Business  Psychology 

Abnormal  Psychology 

We  can  go  still  further.  The  aim  to  compare  vari- 
ous forms  of  minds  is  not  confined  to  contrasting  the  ani- 
mal mind  with  the  human  mind.  Among  the  human 
beings  we  may  compare  the  undeveloped  with  the  de- 
veloped, the  child  with  the  adult,  or,  what  is  still  more 
important,  the  normal  with  the  abnormal.  In  both  di- 
rections psychologists  have  found  many  new  avenues  of 
research.  With  careful  experiments  the  development  of 
the  child  has  been  traced  from  the  first  minutes  of  his 
life,  from  the  first  vague  sensations  when  he  tastes  sweet 
milk,  through  all  the  stages  of  nursery  and  school  life 
and  all  the  phases  of  growing  intelligence  and  tempera- 
ment and  character.  The  study  of  the  mental  diseases 
and  of  all  the  borderland  regions  between  mental  health 
and  mental  illness  has  been  not  the  smallest  triumph  of 
modem  psychology.  We  know  today  that  the  abnormal 
disturbances  of  the  mind  can  be  understood  only  by  an 
exact  comparison  with  the  ordinary  functions  of  the  per- 
sonality. The  work  of  the  physician  has  therefore  been 
brought  into  the  neighborhood  of  routine  psychology,  and 
thus  has  added  much  to  the  large  field  of  mental  studies. 

Psychology  and  Mysticism 

Only  one  region  is  avoided  by  the  scientific  psycholo- 
gist, that  which  the  public  easily  takes  as  the  chief 
psychological  topic,  namely,  the  mystical  states  of  the 
mind.  The  newspaper  reader  hears  about  telepathy  and 
clairvoyance,  about  spiritualism  and  automatic  writing, 
and  fancies  that  such  mysterious  and  uncanny  products 
of  the  soul  furnish  the  most  interesting  material  for 
psychological  studies.  This  is  a  complete  delusion.  The 
scientific  psychologist  knows  that  there  is  a  sharp  demar- 


Scope  and  Methods  ^7 

cation  line  between  science  and  mysticism.  Whoever 
approaches  spiritualistic  seances  and  the  performances 
of  mediums  in  a  religious  attitude  is  perfectly  free  to  do 
so.  That  is  a  private  concern  of  his  personal  conscience 
and  of  his  religious  faith.  But  whoever  accepts  such 
ghosts'  returning  to  earth  or  such  supernatural  communi- 
cations from  distant  souls  as  actual  facts  leaves  the 
realm  of  science  and  finds  himself  in  the  world  of 
miracles. 

In  the  true  psychology  of  our  day  there  is  nothing 
mysterious,  and  even  those  processes  which  have  some 
surprising  and  easily  mystifying  character,  like  hypno- 
tism, are  entirely  brought  under  scientific  control  and 
can  be  explained  like  other  natural  occurrences.  They 
belong  to  that  group  of  mental  phenomena  which,  to- 
gether with  dreams  and  neurasthenic  and  hysteric  aberra- 
tions, lie  in  the  great  and  highly  interesting  sphere  which 
is  between  the  normal  waking  mind  and  the  disturbances 
of  disease. 

TEST  QUESTIONS 

1.  How  does  modem  psychology  differ  from  philosophy? 

2.  How  does  experimental  psychology  proceed  to  discover 
truth? 

3.  What  are  some  of  the  mental  factors  that  can  be  separated 
for  exact  psychological  analysis? 

4.  How  can  physical  instruments  be  used  in  experiments  upon 
the  mind? 

5.  What  is  the  distinetion  between  normal  and  abnormal 
psychology  ? 

6.  What  has  psychology  to  say  about  mysticism  ? 

7.  Can  hypnotism  be  explained  by  modern  psychology? 


CHAPTER  m 
the  application  of  psychology 

Prevailing  Prejudice  Against  Applied  Psychology 

The  man  of  affairs  may  listen  to  a  report  on  the  wide 
scope  and  the  brilliant  development  of  experimental 
methods  in  modem  psychological  science,  and  yet  may 
have  a  lingering  doubt  whether  it  can  be  worth  while 
for  him  to  approach  such  studies.  Of  course,  as  a  man 
of  culture  and  education,  he  may  glance  over  the  results 
of  that  new  science  with  the  same  interest  with  which  he 
may  follow  the  reports  from  other  fields  of  human  en- 
deavor, from  astronomy  or  geology,  from  Assyrian  his- 
tory, or  from  the  sociology  of  the  South  African  tribes. 

But  however  entertaining  it  may  be  to  hear  from  the 
psychologist  about  the  laws  which  control  the  human 
mind  and  about  the  mechanism  of  emotions  and  volitions, 
he  looks  skeptically  into  such  new-fashioned  books  on  the 
mind,  because  he  has  his  serious  doubts  whether  they 
can  really  serve  the  demands  of  practical  life.  He  is  will- 
ing to  grant  that  he  comes  in  contact  with  human  minds 
at  every  step  of  his  business  life  and  that  it  might  be  a 
great  gain  for  him  if  he  could  have  full  insight  into  the 
minds  of  his  clerks  or  his  workingmen  or  his  customers. 
But  to  get  some  scientific  formula  seems  very  far  distant 
from  the  practical  business  of  the  day.  He  has  the 
instinctive  feeling  that  his  experienced  traveling  sales- 
man knows  much  more  about  the  mind  of  his  customers 
than  the  most  scholarly  psychologist,  and  that  his  ex- 

18 


Application  19 

perienced  foreman  in  the  factory  knows  better  whom  to 
employ  than  anyone  who  comes  with  a  proposal  to  ex- 
amine the  candidates  by  scientific  psychological  tests. 

Yet  may  this  not  be  a  very  superficial  prejudice  ?  To 
be  sure,  we  trust  our  cook  to  know  best  how  our  food 
ought  to  be  prepared  and  how  to  select  the  food.  Yet 
have  we  a  right  to  doubt  that  the  scientific  chemist  and 
physician  can  determine  much  better  the  nutritive  value 
of  every  element  of  our  food  and  can  prescribe,  especially 
if  our  health  is  a  little  impaired,  which  diet  would  be  the 
best  for  us  and  how  the  prescribed  food  ought  to  be  pre- 
pared for  our  table?  Moreover  no  psychologist  would 
advise  anyone  to  discard  the  traditions  and  experience  of 
those  who  have  stood  a  long  while  in  the  midst  of  their 
commercial  or  industrial  undertaking.  And  even  the  so- 
called  instinct  of  the  old  employe  may  be  trusted,  how- 
ever often  it  may  mislead  him.  The  farmer  may  well 
rely  on  his  instinctive  knowledge  of  how  the  weather 
will  change;  and  yet  he  would  be  dangerously  old-fash- 
ioned if  he  were  to  disregard  entirely  the  scientific 
meteorological  reports  of  the  weather  bureau.  And  all 
his  traditions  concerning  the  treatment  of  the  soil  cannot 
help  him  so  much  as  a  scientific  understanding  of  that 
which  the  agricultural  chemists  are  ready  to  teach  him. 
We  live  in  the  day  of  the  scientist  and  the  expert,  and 
he  who  closes  his  ears  to  their  advice  will  never  dig  the 
finest  potatoes  from  his  acre. 

Application  in  the  Schools 

In  other  regions  of  practical  life  this  prejudice  against 
psychological  advice  has  happily  disappeared.  The 
school  man,  the  physician,  even  the  lawyer  and  the  artist, 
have  found  out  that  these  discoveries  of  the  modem  psy- 
chologist are  not  simply  dry  text-book  knowledge  and 


20  Business  Psychology 

that  the  output  of  his  laboratory  is  not  serving  only  as 
material  for  general  culture.  They  are  wide-awake  and 
are  fully  aware  that  the  most  useful  and  most  helpful 
knowledge  streams  from  this  source. 

How  could  it  be  otherwise?  Must  not  every  school- 
teacher in  every  class-room  in  every  lesson  devote  herself 
to  the  mind  of  the  pupil?  She  has  no  right  to  give  to  the 
child  a  lesson  to  learn  which  is  not  in  harmony  with  the 
pupil's  intelligence,  or  which  makes  too  great  demands  on 
his  memory,  or  which  imposes  too  great  a  strain  on  his 
attention,  or  which  causes  too  great  mental  fatigue.  She 
has  to  consider  the  mental  differences  of  the  children  and 
the  whole  rhythm  of  their  mental  activity ;  she  must  know 
how  their  ideas  are  linked,  how  their  attention  can  be 
captured,  how  their  distraction  can  be  overcome,  how 
their  good-will  can  be  stirred  up,  how  their  ambition 
must  be  directed,  how  their  laziness  can  be  overcome. 
She  must  take  care  that  the  words  on  the  blackboard  or 
the  lines  on  the  map  produce  clear  images  in  the  minds 
of  the  children,  that  the  words  which  she  speaks  are 
rightly  understood,  that  the  lessons  are  not  too  long  or 
too  short,  that  the  recess  brings  the  right  recreation  to 
the  mind,  and  that  the  training  in  the  ability  to  read 
and  write  and  calculate  is  proceeding  in  the  order  in 
which  the  mind  makes  the  greatest  progress.  In  short, 
from  the  nursery  to  graduation  the  mind  of  the  youth 
must  be  understood  in  all  its  subtlest  details  if  education 
is  to  fulfill  its  ideals. 

Dissatisfaction  with  the  schools  was  so  widespread 
and  the  teachers  themselves  felt  so  strongly  that  their 
success  in  spite  of  their  best  efforts  was  too  often  crippled 
by  poor  adjustment  of  the  work  to  the  minds  of  the  chil- 
dren that  a  great  movement  toward  psychology  has  set 
in  all  over  the  country.    Pedagogy  and  psychology  have 


Application  21 

become  most  intimately  connected,  and  every  teacher  is 
nowadays  expected  to  be  familiar  with  the  results  of  ex- 
perimental and  physiological  psychology  in  the  interest 
of  a  sound  school  life. 

Application  in  Medicine 

It  is  not  different  with  the  physicians.  Every  man  to 
whom  the  health  of  the  community  is  entrusted  knows 
today  what  too  few  knew  yesterday,  that  the  patient's 
mind  is  a  most  essential  factor  in  every  disease.  The 
curing  process  is  in  every  bodily  disturbance  strongly  in- 
fluenced by  the  nervous  system,  and  the  nervous  system 
is  deeply  influenced  by  the  mind.  The  importance  of  this 
role  of  the  mind  is  greatest,  of  course,  when  the  nervous 
system  itself  is  the  seat  of  the  trouble.  The  numberless 
forms  of  nervous  disturbance,  from  the  slightest  neuras- 
thenia to  the  severest  forms  of  brain  diseases,  can  never 
be  treated  completely  without  a  very  careful  considera- 
tion of  the  mental  factors.  Only  the  true  science  of  the 
mind  can  furnish  such  knowledge.  The  physician  today, 
and  not  only  the  physician  of  mental  diseases  but  every 
doctor  who  cures  nervous  states,  therefore  makes  the 
fullest  use  of  the  subtle  methods  which  experimental  psy- 
chology has  introduced.  He  needs  mental  laboratory 
tests  to  discriminate  early  the  different  forms  of  nervous 
disturbances  and  to  examine  the  progress  of  the  various 
states  of  treatment. 

Application  in  Law 

Even  the  lawyer  is  today  no  longer  unfamiliar  with 
the  offerings  of  the  psychologist.  He  cannot  possibly 
forget  that  the  witness  and  the  criminal,  the  judge  and 
the  jury,  are  human  minds,  the  working  of  which  is  de- 
cisive for  the  fulfillment  of  his  purposes.    He  knows  that 


22  Business  Psychology 

the  witness  may  have  the  best  will  to  bring  out  the  truth 
and  yet  that  his  reports  under  oath  may  be  deeply  influ- 
enced by  the  limitations  of  mental  perception  and  memory 
and  attention  and  feeling.  He  must  determine  there- 
fore what  abilities  and  special  mental  features  a  witness 
has.  If  his  visual  memory  is  strong,  he  may  be  trusted 
in  the  report  about  what  he  saw,  but  may  be  entirely 
unreliable  when  he  reports  what  he  heard.  Psycho- 
logical tests  can  bring  out  hundreds  of  such  characteristic 
traits. 

Again  the  psychologist  has  methods  to  bring  to  light 
that  which  the  criminal  or  the  witness  intentionally  sup- 
presses and  hides.  Or  the  psychologist  may  show  the 
mental  effects  of  various  forms  of  punishment  or  may 
help  the  lawyer  in  influencing  the  jurymen  or  may  demon- 
strate the  weakness  of  the  methods  of  the  third  degree. 
The  influence  of  the  oath  on  the  memory  and  attention 
of  the  witness,  the  influence  of  fear  and  excitement  on 
the  criminal,  the  mental  conditions  which  lead  to  a  crime, 
and  many  similar  legally  important  factors  win  entirely 
new  character  in  the  light  of  exact  study  of  the  mind. 

Wider  Application  to  Life 

In  short  the  school  and  the  hospital  and  to  a  certain 
degree  the  court-room  show  an  abundance  of  cases  in 
which  scientific  psychology  can  be  and  has  been  applied  to 
the  practical  affairs  of  everyday  life.  Teachers,  physi- 
cians, and  even  lawyers  have  no  right  to  ignore  the  help 
which  psychology  can  bring.  The  modern  psychological 
knowledge  does  not  lie  in  the  treasure-houses  of  science 
as  gold  bullion,  but  much  of  it  has  been  coined  and  can  be 
used  in  the  intercourse  of  the  street.  Even  the  students 
of  art  or  of  the  theatre  or  of  music  have  the  greatest  in- 
terest to  consider  the  methods  by  which  the  beautiful  ef- 


Application  23 

fects  are  to  be  prodnced.  They  are  somehow  to  capture 
the  mind,  and  each  element  mnst  therefore  be  examined 
from  a  psychological  point  of  view.  The  same  is  true  for 
the  scientist  and  for  the  scholar.  When  the  astronomer 
observes  the  stars,  he  must  know  how  his  mind  works. 
Many  kinds  of  illusions  enter  into  the  impressions  from 
the  outer  world.  It  is  important  to  recognize  their 
sources  in  the  mind.  If  the  historian  relies  on  the  reports 
of  witnesses  and  tells  what  others  see  in  peace  and  war 
he  must  be  able  to  estimate  the  truth  of  such  reports  and 
can  do  so  only  if  he  understands  the  minds  of  such 
chroniclers. 

Thus  we  see  psychological  knowledge  made  serviceable 
for  very  different  human  enterprises.  Everywhere  it  has 
brought  ample  success.  Have  we  a  right  artificially  to 
keep  it  away  from  the  gigantic  field  of  economic  endeav- 
ors, from  commerce  and  industry?  May  we  not  hope  that 
it  will  have  here  the  same  splendid  development  that  it 
has  had  in  education  and  medicine! 

The  teachers  and  physicians  and  still  more  the  lawyers 
originally  had  the  same  suspicion  of  psychology  and  its 
practical  applicability  as  the  commercial  and  industrial 
workers  have  today.  This  suspicion,  mostly  based  on  in- 
sufficient acquaintance  with  the  field,  will  fade  away  in 
economics  just  as  quickly  as  in  pedagogy  and  in  pathol- 
ogy. What  is  needed  here,  as  in  those  other  fields,  is  only 
that  real  co-operation  be  established.  The  true  prog- 
ress of  applied  psychology  in  the  school  life  began 
only  when  the  teachers  did  not  simply  wait  until  the  psy- 
chologists had  completed  the  work  but  when  the  psycholo- 
gists and  teachers  joined  hands.  The  teachers  had  to 
offer  their  problems  out  of  the  midst  of  school  life  and 
had  to  work  them  out  under  the  guidance  of  the  psycholo- 


24  Business  Psychology 

gists  with  psychological  methods.     The  physicians  did 
the  same.     Unselfish  co-operation  produces  results. 

Application  to  Business 

The  business  men  must  come  forward  with  similar 
confidence.  The  actual  problems  of  store  and  factory 
and  office  must  be  turned  over  to  the  psychologist.  On 
the  other  hand  the  psychologist  would  be  guilty  of  mis- 
leading the  business  man  if  he  promised  him  miracles. 
The  progress  must  be  slow  and  disappointments  are 
never  impossible.  The  psychologist  has  no  ready-made 
prescriptions  for  turning  poor  business  into  sudden  pros- 
perity or  for  filling  every  place  with  the  ideally  adapted 
man  only.  The  ax)plication  of  psychology  to  the  concerns 
of  commerce  and  industry  is  the  latest  chapter  of  ap- 
plied psychology,  and  therefore  shows  more  than  others 
the  traits  of  youth.  But  also  from  this  point  of  view  it 
may  be  said  that  the  progress  will  be  the  safer  and  the 
mastery  will  be  the  surer  the  more  we  have  the  patience 
to  study  the  practical  problems  on  a  solid  foundation  of 
a  real  understanding  of  the  whole  mind.  There  is  no 
short  cut  which  leads  directly  to  the  facts  of  applied 
psychology.  We  must  always  first  understand  the  gen- 
eral standards  of  the  mind  and  the  regular  behavior.  In 
other  words  we  cannot  avoid  studying  general  psychology 
before  we  try  to  make  use  of  it  for  the  special  purposes 
of  the  market. 

It  cannot  be  denied  that  the  so-called  psychological 
literature  on  business  proceeds  in  a  very  different  way. 
There  are  many  books  on  selling  or  on  business  admin- 
istration or  on  shop  management  or  on  industrial  work 
which  are  excellent  as  far  as  the  technical  and  economic 
and  mechanical  points  are  concerned.  But  wherever  they 
approach  the  mental  life  they  do  not  really  speak  the 


Application  25 

language  of  science  but  the  language  of  the  street  and  of 
the  newspaper,  and  so  open  a  gulf  between  the  popular 
information  which  they  furnish  and  the  scientific  under- 
standing of  the  processes  which  the  psychologist  tries  to 
supply.  The  different  language  is  only  a  symbol  of  the 
different  thought.  All  the  conceptions  with  which  such 
popular  business  books  and  business  magazines  work 
belong  in  a  sphere  of  ideas  which  cannot  possibly  lead 
to  any  deeper  understanding.  They  refer  to  the  surface 
view.  They  never  enable  us  to  explain  the  processes 
from  their  real  causes  and  to  recognize  the  underlying 
laws.  They  condense,  if  they  are  well  prepared,  the  ad- 
vice of  experienced  business  men. 

They  are  just  as  useful  as  the  hundreds  of  medical 
prescriptions  which  we  read  in  the  health  comers  of  the 
Sunday  newspapers.  Such  prescriptions  may  be  entirely 
correct  and  he  who  acts  according  to  their  rules  may  be 
better  able  to  fight  a  cold  or  to  get  rid  of  rheumatism 
than  his  neighbor.  But  to  pick  up  a  few  such  ready-made 
rules  is  hardly  to  be  compared  even  with  a  beginner's 
study  of  the  elements  of  medicine  based  on  an  insight 
into  the  structure  and  the  functions  of  the  normal  and  of 
the  diseased  organism.  Only  he  who  understands  such 
principles  of  scientific  medicine  knows  where  those  pre- 
scriptions are  in  order.  He  who  relies  on  such  surface 
cures  for  single  symptoms  may  just  as  well  apply  tomor- 
row a  prescription  where  it  does  not  fit  the  case  at  all. 
The  true  source  of  the  pain  may  be  entirely  misunder- 
stood and  an  outside  resemblance  of  chance  symptoms 
may  lead  to  a  treatment  which  is  ruinous. 

Keally  to  understand  mental  conditions  in  business 
means  to  understand  the  structure  and  function  of  the 
mind.  As  soon  as  the  lasting  principles  of  mental  life 
are  grasped,  the  special  rules  become  clear  as  their  con- 


26  Business  Psychology 

sequences.  Only  where  such  a  connection  with  an  under- 
lying thorough  understanding  of  mental  life  exists  have 
we  a  right  to  speak  of  a  psychological  treatment  of  busi- 
ness questions.  The  common-sense  talk  about  the  mind 
which  fills  many  of  our  business  books  is  not  psychology 
and  can  never  be  real  psychology.  It  is  easy  to  use  one's 
mind ;  every  child  does  that.  But  it  is  diflScult  to  under- 
stand it. 

TEST  QUESTIONS 

1.  Up  to  this  point  in  your  life  have  you  had  a  prejudice 
against  practical  psychology  ?     Have  you  been  indifferent  1 

2.  How  is  psychology  applied  in  our  modem  schools  ? 

3.  What  are  some  of  the  psychological  methods  used  by  a 
modern  physician  ? 

4.  How  can  a  lawyer  make  use  of  psychology  ? 

5.  Why  should  the  artist  be  familiar  with  the  laws  of  psy- 
chology f 

6.  Why  should  the  business  man  and  the  capable  psychologist 
often  join  hands  in  solving  business  problems  ? 

7.  What  is  the  nature  of  much  of  the  popular  writing  on  busi- 
ness psychology?     Have  you  followed  any  such  advice t 


CHAPTER  IV 
the  mind  and  the  body 

The  Material  foe  Psychological  Study 

What  is  the  material  which  the  psychologist  is  really 
studying?  The  astronomer  studies  the  stars  and  their 
movements,  the  botanist  studies  the  plants  and  their 
growth.  Everybody  easily  understands  what  their  fields 
of  work  are.  It  is  also  simple  to  see  what  the  historian 
or  the  student  of  lan^ages  or  the  mathematician  or  the 
economist  has  to  study.  But  when  we  ask  ourselves  what 
the  student  of  the  mind  is  really  to  investigate  we  find 
diflSculties. 

Let  us  turn  to  our  practical  interest.  We  want  to  know 
the  mind  of  the  customer  who  enters  the  store.  Only  if 
we  know  his  mind  can  we  be  sure  to  please  him,  to  satisfy 
his  wishes,  to  draw  his  attention  to  the  goods  which  we 
offer,  and  to  convince  him  that  it  is  to  his  advantage  to 
make  the  purchase. 

Or  we  want  to  know  the  mind  of  the  young  man  who  is 
to  be  appointed  as  clerk  in  the  office.  Will  he  be  a  faith- 
ful worker?  Will  he  not  be  careless?  Will  he  have  a 
good  memory  for  the  names  and  the  details  which  come 
up  in  business?  Will  he  be  honest?  Will  he  devote  him- 
self to  the  interests  of  the  firm?  Will  he  waste  his  money 
or  will  he  be  saving?  Will  he  be  intelligent  when  respon- 
sibilities fall  on  him?    Will  he  be  hasty  in  his  decisions? 

Or  we  want  to  know  the  mind  of  the  workingman  who 
has  to  feed  the  machine  in  the  factory.    Will  the  work 

27 


28  Bitsiness  Psychology 

fatigue  him  so  that  his  fatigue  makes  him  liable  to  care- 
lessness and,  through  that,  to  accident!  Has  he  the 
mental  ability  to  look  out  for  all  the  details  of  the  me- 
chanical workT  Can  he  follow  the  speedy  rhythm  of  the 
machine?  Will  the  monotony  of  the  work  disturb  him? 
Will  he  know  how  to  help  himself  in  a  diflSculty? 

Or  we  want  to  know  the  mind  of  the  traveling  salesman. 
Will  he  have  the  power  of  suggestion  which  wins  the  cus- 
tomer? Will  he  spread  the  right  atmosphere  of  con- 
fidence? Will  he  be  industrious  and  loyal?  Will  he 
understand  the  needs  of  the  retailer  with  whom  he  deals  ? 
Will  he  be  discreet?  Will  he  be  temperate?  Will  he  be 
quarrelsome  ? 

Or  we  want  to  know  the  mind  of  the  banker  to  whom 
we  trust  our  deposits.  We  even  want  to  know  the  mind  of 
the  passer-by  on  the  street  who  sees  our  window  display 
or  reads  the  poster  with  our  advertisement.  Will  his 
mind  react  favorably  upon  our  announcement?  Will  he 
like  that  picture?  Will  he  feel  ready  to  yield  to  our  ap- 
peal? What  is  going  on  in  his  mind  or  in  anyone's  mind 
with  whom  we  have  any  commercial  or  industrial  or 
technical  or  financial  dealing?  There  is  no  end  to  such 
questions,  but  what  is  really  meant  by  all  of  them?  What 
is  that  peculiar  object  of  our  inquiry? 

The  iNDivrouAii's  Consciousness 

We  surely  do  not  ask  about  the  soul  of  all  those  people 
from  the  workingman  to  the  banker,  from  the  advertise- 
ment reader  to  the  floorwalker.  By  the  word  ''soul,** 
mankind  has  always  understood  that  deepest  core  of  the 
personality  which  is  itself  not  accessible  to  any  inner  ob- 
servation but  which  we  grasp  in  our  moral  and  religious 
thought.  Our  interest  is  entirely  different.  We  want 
to  know  the  actual  experiences;  we  want  to  know  that 


Mind  and  Body  29 

which  really  happens  and  which  can  really  be  traced  and 
observed  in  the  individuals.  Not  the  soul  of  the  clerk  or 
of  the  customer,  but  his  positive  ideas,  feelings,  memo- 
ries, desires,  and  volitions  are  our  concern. 

Yet,  even  if  we  agree  on  that,  there  may  still  be  a  diffi- 
culty in  finding  our  material,  because  we  can  look  on  all 
these  feelings  and  memories  in  two  very  different  ways. 
We  may  ask,  first,  what  the  men  themselves  really  ex- 
perience. Their  memory-images  or  their  feelings  of 
fatigue  or  of  monotony,  their  desires  and  their  decisions, 
are  then  the  true  material  for  our  psychological  interest. 

Of  course,  we  cannot  directly  become  aware  of  them. 
We  cannot  look  into  the  customer's  mind  and  perceive 
there  his  joy  in  our  showcase  or  his  dissatisfaction  with 
our  price.  This  joy  and  this  dissatisfaction  are  emotions 
in  him  which  no  one  but  he  himself  can  feel  and  therefore 
of  which  no  one  but  he  himself  can  be  aware.  If  we  want 
to  make  clear  to  ourselves  how  his  joy  or  his  anger  feels 
we  can  do  nothing  but  remember  when  we  ourselves  were 
joyful  or  angry.  And,  if  a  workingman  is  fatigued,  his 
feeling  of  fatigue  can  never  be  something  which  we  can 
grasp  directly.  He  finds  that  fatigue  in  his  conscious- 
ness, and  if  we  have  never  felt  fatigued  we  cannot  know 
how  it  feels,  just  as  a  blind  man  can  never  know  how  it 
feels  to  see  red  or  green. 

Everyone  has  his  content  of  consciousness  quite  for 
himself.  No  one  can  break  into  another  man's  mind  and 
lay  hands  on  any  of  his  mental  possessions.  His  memory- 
images  are  his  own.  I  may  remember  the  same  incident 
which  my  neighbor  remembers,  but  his  memory-idea 
and  my  memory-idea  are  two  entirely  different  contents 
of  mind,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  they  refer  to  the 
same  event.  We  can  never  exchange  them.  He  cannot 
feel  my  memory-image  or  I,  his.    And  if  I  want  to  con- 


30  Business  Psychology 

sider  the  characteristics  of  his  experience  of  remembering 
I  can  do  it  only  because  I  know  from  my  own  experiences 
how  such  a  memory-act  feels. 

We  might  say  therefore  that  all  our  interests  in  the 
mental  life  of  those  people  in  store  and  factory  and  count- 
ing house  refer  to  those  inner  states  which  everyone  can 
experience  only  for  himself.  Our  psychological  study 
is  to  analyze  those  states  and  to  trace  their  laws  and  to 
make  us  understand  what  we  have  to  expect  in  every 
situation  from  the  conscious  developments.  The  study 
of  the  mind  becomes  in  this  way  a  study  of  the  contents 
of  consciousness.  Everything  which  is  not  really  felt 
by  someone  or  which  has  not  an  immediate  influence  on 
somebody's  inner  experiences  lies  outside  of  our  feeling. 
The  mind  is  that  of  which  individuals  become  aware  as 
their  inner  experience. 

Consciousness  Revealed  by  Behaviob 

But  now  we  may  take  an  entirely  different  point  of 
view.  We  said  that  the  customer  in  the  store  interests 
us  as  psychologists  because  we  want  to  discover  what  his 
likes  and  dislikes  are,  what  his  preferences  and  decisions 
are,  what  his  turn  of  attention  and  his  liability  to  sugges- 
tion are.  What  does  all  this  mean  but  the  customer's 
turning  to  this  or  to  that  thing  on  the  counter,  taking  up 
the  one  and  throwing  aside  the  other,  choosing  and  pay- 
ing for  the  one  and  never  inspecting  the  other?  And  if 
we  are  interested  in  the  workingman's  mind,  what  does 
his  fatigue  mean  but  his  decrease  in  efficient  work,  his  do- 
ing it  slowly  and  carelessly?  What  does  his  eagerness 
mean  but  his  doing  the  work  with  unusual  persistence? 
What  does  his  intelligence  mean  but  his  ability  to  per- 
form those  movements  and  actions  which  are  best  fitted 


Mind  and  Body  31 

for  the  particular  situation?     This  is  exactly  the  case 
everywhere.    Actions  reveal  the  inner  life. 

We  are  interested  in  the  mind,  and  yet  all  which  is 
really  important  for  us  is  the  man's  kind  of  action  and 
his  outer  behavior,  his  speaking  and  handling  and  turn- 
ing and  moving,  in  short,  processes  which  we  can  per- 
ceive from  without.  We  want  to  know  whether  the 
clerk's  mind  is  honest,  but  that  means  to  us  after  all  only 
whether  he  will  make  correct  entries  in  the  ledger  or  not, 
whether  he  will  take  money  out  of  the  cash  drawer  or 
not,  whether  he  will  speak  true  words  or  untrue  ones. 
Yet  every  one  of  these  actions  can  be  seen  or  heard  or 
otherwise  found  out  from  the  happenings  in  the  outer 
physical  world. 

We  can  generalize  this.  If  we  have  a  practical  interest 
in  any  man's  mind,  the  truly  important  factor  is  the 
man's  way  of  action,  his  outer  behavior,  that  is,  the  chain 
of  processes  which  go  on  in  his  body.  All  his  actions 
indeed  are  evidently  bodily  events.  His  spoken  words 
are  movements  of  his  lips  and  tongue  and  vocal  cord. 
His  eager  work  is  a  chain  of  movements  of  his  arms  and 
fingers  and  legs,  and  even  his  taking  money  out  of  the 
cash  drawer  is  a  bodily  process.  To  be  sure,  if  all  these 
bodily  actions  in  speaking  and  reading,  feeding  the  ma- 
chine or  selling  over  the  counter,  entering  the  shop  and 
paying  for  the  goods,  were  simply  physical  processes  of 
the  body,  like  the  action  of  the  heart  or  of  the  stomach, 
the  behavior  of  the  individuals  could  not  be  called  mental 
at  all. 

We  take  it  for  granted  that  the  turning  of  the  cus- 
tomer to  the  one  box  and  away  from  the  other  is  felt  by 
him  in  his  consciousness  as  an  inner  experience  of  liking 
and  desiring  the  one  and  of  disliking  and  avoiding  the 
other.    But  for  practical  purposes  it  makes  no  difference 


32  Business  Psychology 

whether  we  take  the  trouble  to  awake  in  him  the  mental 
liking  for  our  goods  or  whether  we  stir  up  in  him  the 
physical  impulse  to  turn  to  our  goods.  His  outer  be- 
havior and  his  inner  experience  then  appear  to  us  as 
merely  two  different  expressions  of  the  same  event.  The 
consciousness  and  the  body  with  its  actions  are  two  dif- 
ferent aspects  of  that  reality  which  we  want  to  study  as 
practical  psychologists.  Hence  "mind*^  means  for  us 
both  that  which  everyone  finds  in  himself,  in  his  inner 
private  consciousness,  in  which  nobody  else  can  directly 
take  part,  and  at  the  same  time  the  particular  kind  of 
bodily  behavior  in  which  the  personality  expresses  itself 
and  which  is  open  to  everyone's  perception.  Thus  the 
mind  which  is  aware  of  its  feelings  and  the  body  which 
shows  a  certain  behavior  in  contact  with  the  world  cannot 
be  separated  in  our  psychological,  practical  interests. 
Whenever  the  mind  is  influenced  the  behavior  changes 
and  whenever  the  behavior  shows  characteristic  traits 
we  refer  them  to  the  mind  of  the  personality. 

The  Perceptions 

This  intimate  relation  of  mind  and  body  has  been  the 
object  of  very  thorough  study.  The  chief  topics  of  such 
study  have  been  first  of  all  the  perceptions,  that  is,  the 
processes  of  seeing,  hearing,  tasting,  smelling,  and  touch- 
ing the  outer  world.  Whenever  we  become  aware  of  the 
display  in  a  shop  window,  the  visual  impression  of  the 
gowns  can  arise  in  our  mind  only  if  their  colors,  that  is, 
the  light  rays,  stimulate  our  eye.  If  we  close  our  eyelids 
the  perception  of  the  beautiful  display  disappears.  We 
can  now  examine  in  detail  the  processes  by  which  those 
colors  behind  the  window  glass  influence  the  apparatus 
in  our  eye,  and  how  the  excitations  from  the  sensitive 
parts  of  tiie  eye  are  carried  on  to  our  brain  and  produce 


Mind  and  Body  33 

there  the  vivid  impressions.  The  details  of  our  sense- 
impressions  form  nowadays  a  whole  science,  and  every 
bit  of  it  is  the  story  of  contact  between  body  and  mind. 

Will-Actions 

While  in  the  perceptions  the  process  begins  with  the 
bodily  excitation  of  the  sense  organs  and  ends  with  the 
impressions  in  the  mind,  the  order  of  events  is  the  oppo- 
site in  onr  will-actions.  Here  we  first  become  aware  of 
our  desire  or  wish  or  will  as  something  in  our  conscious- 
ness, but  we  enter  into  a  real  will-action  when  this  will- 
impulse  is  linked  with  a  movement  of  the  body.  We  want 
to  see  what  time  it  is,  and  while  we  become  aware  of  this 
wish  our  hand  grasps  for  our  watch.  The  events  pro- 
ceed here  from  the  inside  to  the  outside,  but  here  too,  as 
in  the  perceptions,  mind  and  body  interest  us  together. 
The  detailed  study  traces  the  exact  ways  in  which  the 
will-excitement  is  carried  from  the  brain  to  the  muscles. 

The  Unity  op  Bodily  and  Mental  Life 

The  intimate  relation  between  mind  and  body  presents 
itself  not  only  when  the  sense  organs  stimulate  the  mind 
or  when  the  mind  works  on  the  muscles.  In  a  still  more 
interesting  way  the  scientist  finds  their  unity  in  the  whole 
character  and  rhythm  of  our  inner  life.  Everybody 
knows  how  the  whole  mental  life  is  changed  in  the  dreams 
of  our  sleep.  The  sleep  is  a  bodily  state  which  the  chem- 
ical products  of  fatigue  produce  by  poisoning  the  nervous 
substances.  As  soon  as  this  process  of  the  brain  cells 
occurs  we  find  the  whole  mental  life  completely  reversed 
by  the  fantasy  of  our  dreams. 

In  a  similar  way  any  chemical  substances  which  we 
introduce  into  our  blood  by  way  of  our  stomach  may  have 
strong  mental  effects  as  soon  as  they  reach  the  brain. 


34  Business  Psychology 

If  a  large  amount  of  alcohol  is  absorbed  by  the  body, 
the  mental  life  may  be  deeply  altered  during  the  period 
of  the  intoxication.  Ideas  rush  through  the  mind,  the 
usual  prudence  is  forsaken,  the  emotions  take  the  char- 
acter of  exaggerated  hilarity,  while  impulses  arise  which 
ordinarily  are  suppressed.  The  purely  bodily  change 
thus  involves  a  strong  mental  change  too.  Even  a  cup  of 
tea  may  make  the  mind  more  social ;  hashish  may  bring 
raptures  of  delight;  other  drugs  cause  a  mental  depres- 
sion ;  again  others  interfere  with  the  memory.  Ordinary 
fatigue,  long  before  sleep  sets  in,  also  has  its  bodily  con- 
sequences, and  yet  they  may  be  noticed  first  of  all  in  the 
decrease  of  mental  activity. 

The  facts  become  still  more  striking  in  cases  of  dis- 
ease. Any  disease  in  certain  parts  of  the  brain  is  ac- 
companied by  mental  disturbances.  If  the  brain  cannot 
develop  normally,  the  child's  mind  remains  idiotic.  If 
the  brain  degenerates,  a  paralysis  of  the  mental  function 
sets  in.  The  more  the  microscopical  study  of  brain  defects 
progresses,  the  more  we  understand  the  subtle  connec- 
tions between  particular  bodily  disturbances  and  par- 
ticular mental  abnormalities.  If  by  the  breaking  of  an 
artery  the  blood  destroys  certain  rear  parts  of  the  brain, 
the  patient  becomes  blind.  If  the  destruction  reaches 
other  brain  parts,  he  may  become  deaf.  Again  there  are 
definite  regions  in  the  brain  which  are  so  intimately 
linked  with  the  mental  process  of  speaking  that  their 
lesion  involves  the  loss  of  speech.  The  development  of 
the  brain  from  birth  to  adolescence  corresponds  to  the 
steady  development  of  the  mental  functions.  In  short 
the  modern  scientist  can  bring  together  material  from 
many  different  quarters  to  prove  that  normal  and  ab- 
normal happenings  in  the  body  are  exactly  corresponding 
to  changes  in  the  inner  mental  experience. 


Mind  and  Body  35 

The  Functions  of  the  Brain 

These  last  illustrations,  however,  already  suggest  that 
we  have  no  right  to  speak  of  body  in  general,  but  that  we 
must  refer  to  a  special  organ,  namely,  the  brain.  The 
mental  events  run  parallel  to  the  brain  processes.  As 
soon  as  the  brain  processes  are  repeated,  the  parallel 
mental  processes  are  repeated  too,  or  we  may  also  formu- 
late it  in  this  way:  Every  change  in  the  mental  experi- 
ence corresponds  to  a  change  in  the  hrain  processes. 
These  brain  processes  are  the  physical  causes  of  the  be- 
havior of  man.  Whatever  man  is  doing  is  done  by  muscle 
action,  and  these  muscle  actions  are  caused  by  the  fore- 
going brain  processes.  This  is  the  reason  why  it  makes 
hardly  any  difference  for  our  practical  purposes  whether 
we  speak  about  the  mental  experiences  of  a  man  or  about 
his  bodily  behavior.  The  bodily  behavior  is  only  the 
effect  of  his  brain  changes,  and  those  brain  changes 
always  go  together  with  his  mental  experience. 

How  is  it  possible  for  the  brain  to  perform  this  ex- 
tremely complex  work  of  controlling  man's  entire  be- 
havior? To  come  nearer  to  this  problem  we  may  look 
on  the  brain  for  a  moment  without  any  reference  to  the 
mind  and  ask  ourselves  what  the  brain  is,  purely  as  an 
organ  of  the  body.  The  answer  is  this :  The  brain  is  an 
organ  which  intermediates  between  the  sense  organs  and 
the  muscles. 

The  brain  is  connected  with  the  sense  organs  by  the 
sensory  nerves  and  with  the  muscles  by  the  motor  nerves. 
The  sense  organs  are  not  only  the  eye  and  the  ear  and  the 
tongue  and  the  nose,  but  also  the  whole  skin  and  the  fine 
organs  which  lie  in  the  inner  parts  of  our  body  and  which 
receive  their  messages  from  our  inner  body.  These  sen- 
sory nerves  either  reach  the  brain  directly  or  pass  at  first 


36  Business  Psychology 

through  the  spinal  cord,  the  prolongation  of  the  brain 
through  the  whole  back.  In  the  same  way  the  motor 
nerves  go  either  directly  from  the  brain  to  the  muscles  of 
the  head  or  they  pass  from  the  brain  through  the  spinal 
cord  to  the  muscles  of  the  limbs  and  of  the  trunk. 

Millions  of  excitations  are  carried  from  our  sense 
organs  to  our  brain  and  millions  of  impulses  are  sent 
from  our  brain  to  the  muscles  of  the  organism.  It  is  the 
brain  which  is  the  great  central  switchboard  connecting 
the  right  sense-impressions  with  the  right  motor  re- 
sponses. Those  sense-impressions  represent  the  outer 
world ;  those  muscle  contractions  are  actions  of  the  per- 
sonality; the  brain  has  to  take  care  that  the  actions  are 
well  adjusted  to  the  surrounding  world. 

How  can  this  be  achieved!  It  would  surely  be  impos- 
sible to  understand  it  if  we  think  of  the  brain  as  one  sim- 
ple organ,  but  the  metaphor  which  we  used  when  we 
called  it  a  central  switchboard  brings  us  nearer  to  the 
understanding.  In  a  telephone  system  like  that  of  the 
city  of  New  York  the  wires  from  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  transmitting  instruments  lead  to  the  central  office  and 
from  the  central  office  the  wires  lead  to  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands of  receivers.  The  central  station  secures  the  con- 
nections between  the  right  transmitter  and  the  right 
receiver.  In  the  brain  we  have  nerve  fibers  instead  of 
wires  and  in  every  brain  the  number  of  these  nerve  fibers 
which  connect  various  parts  of  the  central  apparatus  is 
a  thousand  times  greater  than  that  of  the  connections  in 
New  York.  But  in  principle  it  too  is  a  system  of  con- 
necting paths  of  tremendous  complexity. 

The  Neurons 

The  element  of  the  whole  system  is  an  apparatus  called 
the  ''neuron."    It  consists  of  three  characteristic  parts, 


Mind  and  Body  37 

a  central  part,  the  so-called  cell  body,  visible  only  under 
the  microscope,  and  two  arms  which  branch  off  from  this 
cell  body  in  opposite  directions.  The  cell  body  is  a  little 
lump  of  living  substance  which  may  have  the  form  of  a 
ball  or  of  a  pyramid  or  it  may  be  similar  to  a  star.  The 
two  branches  are  very  different  from  each  other.  The 
one  is  usually  short  but  it  is  formed  like  a  bush  with  a 
thousand  twigs.  The  other  may  be  short  or  long,  but  it 
has  few  side  arms  and  ends  in  a  fine  brush  of  fibers.  Two 
neurons  never  grow  into  each  other,  but  they  touch  each 
other.  The  endings  of  the  long  arm  of  the  one  clasp 
into  the  endings  of  the  short  arm  of  the  next,  and  where 
they  come  in  contact  the  excitation  can  go  over  from  the 
one  to  the  other.  The  short  branch  receives  and  the  long 
branch  sends  the  message,  but  it  always  goes  through 
that  little  central  body. 

Now  about  a  billion  such  neurons  stand  in  connection 
with  one  another.  Some  millions  form  the  sensory 
nerves,  some  millions  the  motor  nerves,  but  by  far  the 
largest  number  intermediates  between  the  sensory  and 
the  motor  neurons.  Those  parts  of  the  brain  and  the 
spinal  cord  in  which  the  cell  bodies  are  clustered  together 
appear  to  the  naked  eye  as  grey  substance  and  those  parts 
which  are  essentially  made  up  from  the  branches  appear 
to  the  naked  eye  white.  In  the  spinal  cord  the  grey  sub- 
stance is  in  the  center  surrounded  by  white  substance. 
In  the  brain  the  chief  region  of  the  grey  is  the  outer 
layer,  while  the  inner  parts  of  the  brain  are  many  con- 
necting fibers.  That  outer  layer,  the  so-caUed  * '  cortex  * '  of 
the  brain,  contains  the  chief  end  stations  for  all  the  sen- 
sory paths  and  the  chief  starting  stations  for  all  the  mo- 
tor paths.  If  a  stimulus  reaches  such  a  sensory  center, 
for  instance,  if  we  hear  a  cry,  this  may  irradiate  from 
that  sensory  center  in  the  cortex  to  hundreds  of  thou- 


38  Business  Psychology 

sands  of  other  neurons  which  finally  lead  to  those  motor 
centers  by  which  the  impulse  is  given  to  listen  or  to  run 
away. 

The  Physical  Basis  op  Human  Behavior 

The  foregoing  brief  description  of  the  brain  and  the 
nervous  system  contains  valuable  suggestions  for  our 
practical  problem.  The  growth  of  the  nervous  system 
is  clearly  a  problem  of  developing  a  network  of  paths 
which  create  a  useful  connection  between  the  senses  and 
the  muscles.  The  more  highly  the  nervous  system  is 
organized,  the  more  possibilities  there  are  for  making 
such  connections.  Man's  nervous  system  is,  of  course, 
the  climax.  This  understanding  of  the  real  relation  of 
nerve  connections  to  human  behavior  enables  the  psy- 
chologist to  suggest  practical  methods  of  training  for 
bodily  and  mental  efficiency. 

In  this  connection  one  more  fact  should  be  noted.  The 
higher  the  nervous  system  stands  in  the  scale,  the  more  it 
is  able  to  produce  actions  in  response  to  such  things  in 
the  surroundings  as  are  not  immediately  exciting  the 
senses  but  which  were  parts  of  earlier  experiences.  The 
animal  smells  a  scent;  this  scent  awakes  in  the  nervous 
system  that  excitement  which  at  an  earlier  experience 
was  connected  with  that  particular  smell  and  the  sight  of 
a  prey  or  of  an  enemy,  and  now  the  smell  and  the  after- 
effect of  that  earlier  sight  together  stir  up  the  action  of 
attack  or  escape.  The  more  richly  the  nervous  system 
is  developed,  the  larger  is  the  possibility  of  such  after- 
effects from  previous  impressions. 

In  man  the  actual  impressions  of  the  moment  are 
only  a  small  fraction  of  the  excitements  in  the  brain 
which  lead  to  action.  The  far  larger  part  consists  of  the 
after-effects  from  that  which  had  reached  the  brain  be- 


Mind  and  Body  39 

fore.  The  trillions  of  excitations  which  have  come  to 
our  brain  from  the  first  days  of  our  life,  the  lights  and 
sounds  which  we  have  seen  and  heard,  including  the 
words  which  we  have  read  and  to  which  we  have  listened, 
all  have  their  after-effects  on  our  nervous  system  and 
work  together  to  make  us  respond  by  this  or  that  action 
of  our  hands  or  lips.  Thus  the  scientist  considers  this 
whole  mechanism  of  behavior  as  a  quite  explainable  nat- 
ural apparatus.  But  he  understands,  of  course,  that  the 
mental  process  is  much  more  than  the  mere  physical  re- 
action, inasmuch  as  all  these  brain  processes  which  link 
the  impressions  with  the  actions  are  accompanied  by  the 
inner  experiences. 

The  Practical  Problem 

If  we  want  to  describe  simply  the  inner  experiences, 
the  actual  feelings  and  emotions  and  ideas  and  volitions, 
we  must  rely  entirely  on  our  consciousness  and  analyze 
what  we  find  in  ourselves.  But  if  we  want  to  explain  the 
succession  of  events,  we  must  turn  to  these  brain  proc- 
esses in  the  body.  The  one  cannot  be  separated  from  the 
other.  They  are  two  aspects  of  the  same  experience. 
The  customer,  the  workingman,  the  salesman,  the  clerk, 
the  banker,  the  advertisement  readers,  and  all  the  rest 
are  minds  which  have  a  special  content  of  consciousness, 
but  they  are  at  the  same  time  brains  which  produce  a  cer- 
tain kind  of  behavior.  If  we  were  to  consider  only  the 
mental  act  and  were  to  describe  its  elements,  we  should 
leave  out  the  physical  action  and  yet  these  outer  actions 
are  practically  the  most  important  part  of  the  process 
for  us. 

On  the  other  hand  if  we  were  to  consider  only  the  ac- 
tions and  their  brain  causes,  that  is,  if  we  were  to  confine 
ourselves  to  the  physical  side,  we  should  onoit  that  which 


40  Business  Psychology 

makes  those  men  really  human  for  us  and  which  gives 
meaning  to  their  experience.  Hence  we  must  always 
consider  mind  and  body  together.  We  must  analyze  the 
mental  states  as  they  are  perceived  and  felt  and  desired, 
and  we  must  at  the  same  time  understand  them  as  accom- 
paniments of  brain  processes  which  form  the  connecting 
link  between  the  sense-impressions  and  the  actions. 

The  detailed  study  of  the  essential  mind-acts  must 
therefore  begin  with  those  experiences  which  result  from 
the  sense-impressions  and  must  end  with  those  through 
which  the  outer  actions  are  brought  forth,  and  between 
these  two  ends,  that  is,  between  perception  and  will- 
activity,  must  lie  the  study  of  all  those  mental  states 
which  correspond  to  those  linking  processes  in  the  brain, 
the  memories,  ideas,  and  thoughts,  the  acts  of  attention 
and  feeling  and  emotion,  of  suggestion  and  imagination 
and  desire.    This  will  be  the  order  of  our  analysis. 

The  Thbee  Great  Factobs  op  the  Mind 

The  perceptions  stand  in  the  nearest  relation  to  the 
memory-ideas  and  to  the  thoughts.  They  all  form  parts 
of  our  knowledge  concerning  the  world.  We  may  group 
them  together  as  a  unit,  and  in  the  same  way  we  may 
combine  all  the  other  mental  functions  into  two  other 
groups,  the  one  containing  everything  which  refers  to 
the  personal  attitude,  and  the  other  everything  concern- 
ing the  impulse  to  action.  Man 's  knowledge  of  the  world, 
man^s  interest  in  the  world,  and  man's  action  toward  the 
world  are  the  three  great  factors  of  his  mind.  This  is 
true  from  whatever  standpoint  we  may  look  on  it, 
whether  we  consider  the  mind  as  an  inner  experience  of 
consciousness  or  as  an  organization  of  our  behavior. 


Mind  and  Body  41 

Knowledge,  interest,  and  activity  are  combined  wherever 
man  is  considered  in  his  importance  for  commerce  and 
industry. 

TEST  QUESTIONS 

1.  What  psychological  problems  are  involved  in  selecting  a 
clerk?     A  mechanic  at  a  machine?     A  banker! 

2.  How  is  the  mind  related  to  this  problem? 

3.  How  can  you  actually  find  out  what  is  another  person's 
content  of  consciousness? 

4.  Why  is  it  possible  to  read  a  person's  mind  by  observing 
his  bodily  behavior  ? 

5.  What  is  meant  by  the  perceptions  ? 

6.  What  are  will-actions? 

7.  What  are  some  familiar  illustrations  that  show  the  unity 
of  bodily  and  mental  life  ? 

8.  What  is  the  real  function  of  the  brain  in  our  life  process  ? 

9.  What  physical  changes  take  place  in  our  nervous  system  in 
the  learning  process  ? 

10.  What  are  the  three  great  factors  of  the  mind  that  are  of 
practical  importance  to  our  problem  t 


PART  TWO  —  KNOWLEDGE 

CHAPTER  V 

sensation 

Nature  of  Sensation 

If  anyone  in  the  world  has  to  deal  with  concrete  reali- 
ties and  must  know  the  facts  of  the  outer  world  as  they 
really  are,  it  is  the  business  man.  He  cannot  base  his 
work  on  thoughts  and  ideas  and  fancies.  What  he  is 
doing  is  part  of  that  great  world  machinery  by  which 
mankind  masters  stubborn  nature  in  the  interest  of  sat- 
isfying human  needs.  Whether  he  digs  the  minerals  or 
harvests  the  crops,  whether  he  transforms  the  raw  ma- 
terial of  nature  into  the  finished  products  of  the  factories 
or  carries  this  output  to  the  merchants  of  the  land, 
whether  he  sells  these  wares  or  distributes  the  standard 
ware  of  mankind,  money,  or  whether  he  helps  such  pro- 
duction and  distribution  in  a  high  or  in  a  low  place,  in  the 
office  or  behind  the  counter,  in  every  case  he  must  have 
a  clear  view  of  the  objects  of  the  outer  world. 

The  things  which  can  be  seen  and  heard  and  touched 
make  up  the  world  to  which  all  business  refers.  Our  first 
interest  in  the  actions  of  the  mind  thus  turns  to  the 
knowledge  of  the  things  which  surround  us,  which  we 
have  to  handle  and  to  use.  How  do  we  perceive  their  col- 
ors or  their  noises,  their  weight  or  their  temperature, 
their  taste  or  their  smell,  their  shape  or  their  size,  their 
number  or  their  movements,  their  rhythm  or  their 
duration? 

42 


Sensation  43 

Everybody  knows  how  easily  we  are  deceived  by  the 
outer  world.  Illusions  creep  in.  It  may  be  that  such 
illusions  are  sometimes  quite  valuable  for  the  business 
man.  He  may  be  anxious  that  the  things  which  he  puts 
in  his  shop  window  appear  larger  than  they  really  are  or 
more  numerous  than  their  objective  number.  But  no- 
body wants  to  be  deceived.  Even  the  office  boy  may  have 
to  suffer  if  he  does  not  know  that  in  a  certain  light  the 
blue  stamp  may  appear  green  or  that  the  large  envelope 
on  which  he  has  to  put  stamps  may  appear  lighter  than  a 
small  one  of  the  same  weight.  Whether  we  want  to  make 
use  of  the  illusions  of  our  senses  or  whether  we  want  to 
protect  ourselves  against  them,  we  must  know  first  of 
all  how  our  senses  work  and  how  we  can  rely  on  our  per- 
ceptions and  where  the  limits  of  our  sense-functions  lie. 

But  we  may  discriminate  the  contents  from  their  order. 
If  we  see  a  red  or  green  or  blue  point,  we  may  study  the 
color  impression  and  examine  why  it  appears  greenish  or 
reddish  or  bluish.  But  if  we  see  three  blue  points,  or  if 
we  see  the  blueness  spread  over  a  whole  area,  or  if  we  see 
blue  points  arranged  in  star  form,  or  if  that  blue  point 
lasts  now  for  a  second  and  now  for  ten  seconds,  or  if  the 
blue  light  alternates  with  the  red  light,  then  we  are  no 
longer  interested  in  the  content  of  our  impressions  but 
in  the  order  of  them,  their  space  order,  their  time  order, 
their  number  order.  Every  true  perception  of  the  outer 
world  involves  both.  We  must  always  ask:  What  is  the 
mental  material  from  which  these  impressions  are  built 
up  and  what  is  the  special  combination  which  gives  us  the 
idea  of  their  length  and  form  and  time?  These  contents 
are  called  by  the  psychologist  ** sensations."  A  mere 
tone  or  noise  or  smell  or  taste  or  color  is  a  sensation  in 
the  mind. 


44  Business  Psychology 

Complexity  of  Sensations 

Our  real  experience  of  the  world  is,  moreover,  always 
a  combination  of  such  sensations,  and  only  through  the 
combination  do  things  get  their  space  and  time  form.  We 
never  see  simply  a  patch  of  color,  but  we  have  before  us 
perhaps  a  package  in  brown  paper  which  has  definite  size 
and  which  stands  before  us  at  a  definite  distance.  Even 
when  a  bell  rings,  we  do  not  simply  hear  a  tone,  but  it  is 
a  tone  which  lasts  for  a  definite  period  and  which  comes 
from  a  special  point  in  space.  We  speak,  therefore,  first 
of  the  sensations  only  and  then  of  their  combinations  in 
real  perceptions.  But  indeed  we  must  not  forget  that 
these  sensations  are  only  the  elements  from  which  the 
real  impressions  are  built  up.  They  themselves  are  not 
complete;  they  are  only  the  material  out  of  which  the 
mind  shapes  true  impressions  which  always  contain  ref- 
erence to  time  and  space. 

Light  Impressions 

The  most  important  group  of  impressions  is  certainly 
that  of  the  light  sensations.  We  live  in  surroundings 
which  we  know  first  of  all  from  their  optical  nature,  and 
everyone  is  aware  of  the  infinite  manifoldness  of  colors. 
The  ribbon  counter  of  the  department  store  may  have 
an  abundance  of  colors,  and  yet  the  girl  who  wants  to 
match  the  ribbon  with  her  gown  finds  that  just  that  par- 
ticular color  is  not  to  be  had.  It  seems  entirely  hopeless 
to  try  to  give  a  real  account  of  all  the  lights  which  our 
eyes  bring  to  us.  The  psychologist,  however,  is  not 
alarmed  by  this  task.  On  the  contrary  he  soon  discovers 
that  this  chaos  can  be  brought  into  simple  order,  because 
what  at  first  appears  a  simple  color  may  be  analyzed  into 
still  simpler  elements.    The  abundance  may  result  from 


Sensation  45 

the  combination  of  rather  few  elements,  just  as  the  rich- 
ness of  our  words  in  the  language  results  from  the  com- 
bination of  the  few  letters  of  the  alphabet. 

But  the  letters  are  combined  in  the  word  in  an  external 
way,  one  standing  beside  another.  This  is  not  the  case 
with  our  color-impressions.  They  are  mixed  in  the  mind ; 
they  are  felt  as  if  they  were  one,  and  only  by  a  compari- 
son with  other  colors  can  we  resolve  one  color  into  sev- 
eral. A  pure  purple  standing  alone  looks  just  as  simple 
as  a  pure  yellow,  but  if  we  arrange  a  series  of  mixtures 
of  red  and  blue,  beginning  with  the  pure  red  and  adding 
more  and  more  blue  until  we  have  an  almost  pure  blue, 
then  we  find  our  purple  in  the  midst  of  that  series,  and  in 
comparison  with  the  others  we  recognize  that  it  is  a 
combination  of  reddishness  and  bluishness.  Or  that  sen- 
sation which  we  call  orange  can  by  comparison  be  recog- 
nized as  a  mixture  of  red  and  yellow.  What  we  call  grey 
of  any  shade  is  the  mixture  of  white  and  black.  Our  pink 
appears  as  a  mixture  of  red  and  white,  the  brown  as 
a  mixture  of  yellow  and  black,  the  olive  a  mixture  of 
green  and  black.  If  we  carry  through  this  analysis,  we 
find  that  there  are  ultimately  only  six  simple  elements  of 
visual  sensation,  white,  black,  red,  yellow,  green,  and  blue. 

LIGHT    COMBINATIONS 

The  combinations  of  white  and  black  give  us  the  color- 
less light  grey  sensations,  while  all  the  colors  result  from 
the  combinations  of  those  four  other  elements  with  one 
another  or  with  the  white  and  black.  It  can  easily  be  seen 
that  the  number  of  combinations  is  unlimited,  as  any  of 
these  colors  may  enter  into  the  mixture  in  any  amount. 
The  combination  of  white  and  red,  for  instance,  is  not 
confined  to  one  particular  pink,  but  if  w«  take  white 
water  and  red  claret  wine  a  few  drops  of  wine  in  a  glass 


46  Business  Psychology 

of  water  may  give  us  a  white  which  contains  just  the 
slightest  possible  tint  of  red;  the  more  wine  we  pour  in, 
the  more  reddish  becomes  the  pink  until  its  whitishness 
disappears  altogether  and  we  have  the  pure  red  color 
effect. 

Between  such  a  reddish-white  and  complete  reddish- 
ness  there  are  many  steps  which  the  psychologist  calls 
** different  degrees  of  saturation."  He  speaks  of  a  fully 
saturated  color  whenever  no  whitishness  or  greyishness 
or  blackishness  is  in  it,  and  the  more  this  colorless  ele- 
ment prevails,  the  lower  is  the  degree  of  saturation.  As 
long  as  we  consider  only  the  fully  saturated  colors  which 
result  from  mixing  pure  red  with  yellow,  or  yellow  with 
green,  green  with  blue,  or  blue  with  red,  we  get  about 
150  different  colors  and  each  of  them  can  by  the  mixture 
with  white  or  black  appear  in  any  possible  degree  of  satu- 
ration. Moreover  each  of  these  colored  lights  can  pass 
through  any  degree  of  strength  or  intensity.  Thus  it  is 
not  surprising  that  hundreds  of  thousands  of  different 
color  effects  can  be  produced. 

THE  PHYSICAIi  BASIS  OF  LIGHT  SENSATIONS 

The  physical  sources  of  these  lights  are  waves  of  ether, 
the  same  kind  of  waves  as  those  which  carry  the  wireless 
messages.  But  the  waves  of  the  wireless  telegraphy  are 
very  long,  the  light  waves  extremely  short.  They  follow 
one  another  in  very  rapid  succession.  The  slowest  light 
wave  we  can  see  at  all  consists  of  four  hundred  and  fifty 
billion  waves  in  a  second ;  that  gives  us  the  impression  of 
red.  The  quickest  has  seven  hundred  and  ninety  billion 
in  a  second ;  that  gives  us  the  impression  of  violet. 

The  condition  for  our  seeing  is  that  these  very  rapid 
ether  waves  reach  the  fine  nerve  endings  in  the  back- 
ground of  our  eyeball,  the  so-called  ' '  retina. ' '    These  fine 


Sensation  47 

nerve  endings,  of  which  about  half  a  million  are  in  each 
eye,  form  all  together  a  kind  of  hollow  cup  which  works 
like  the  photographic  film  in  a  camera.  By  the  lens  in  tlio 
front  of  our  eye  the  light  which  comes  from  one  point 
in  the  outer  world  is  thrown  into  one  point  of  this  retina. 
If  we  look  into  a  room  all  the  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
nerv^e  endings  are  excited  at  the  same  time,  each  one  get- 
ting the  light  from  one  point.  All  these  excited  nerves 
are  carrying  their  message  to  the  brain,  and  there  the 
visual  sensations  arise. 

The  special  color  depends  upon  the  rapidity  of  these 
ether  vibrations.  If  those  vibrations  become  stronger, 
the  light  appears  more  intense,  and  if  different  kinds  of 
light  are  mixed,  then  the  light  decreases  in  saturation. 
What  we  call  colorless  light,  the  white  and  the  grey, 
is  usually  a  mixture  of  all  kinds  of  lights,  as  indeed  our 
white  sunlight  contains  all  possible  rays.  The  rainbow 
colors  of  the  spectrum  show  this,  as  they  appear  when  the 
sunlight  is  dispersed  by  a  prism. 

MODEPIOATION  OF  LIGHT  SENSATIONS  BY  THE  EYE 

It  is  not  enough,  however,  to  understand  that  our  color 
impressions  correspond  to  certain  light  rays  in  the  outer 
world.  The  processes  in  our  eye  are  not  simply  trans- 
forming those  light  rays  into  our  sensations;  they  are 
influencing  one  another.  Only  if  we  understand  these 
mutual  influences  of  the  eye  nerves  can  we  foresee  what 
a  man  will  really  perceive.  Take  this  case:  If  we  cut 
a  grey  piece  of  paper  into  little  strips  and  we  put  one  of 
the  strips  on  a  blue  background,  another  on  a  red,  another 
on  a  green,  and  one  on  a  yellow  background,  we  should 
no  longer  be  able  to  recognize  that  they  all  were  taken 
from  the  same  sheet.  The  grey  strip  on  the  blue  back- 
ground looks  yellowish,  on  the  yellow  background  bluish, 


48  Business  Psychology 

on  the  red  background  greenish,  and  on  the  green  back- 
ground reddish.  This  shows  that  any  impression  on  our 
eye  is  influenced  not  only  by  the  light  rays  at  the  particu- 
lar spot,  but  also  by  the  surrounding  rays.  This  holds 
true  of  every  kind  of  vision.  It  is  always  influenced  by 
all  the  lights  which  enter  into  the  eye.  It  makes  a  great 
deal  of  difference  whether  the  desk  of  the  clerk  stands 
so  that  while  he  is  reading  or  writing  strong  masses  of 
light  from  the  window  or  from  the  lamps  must  fall  di- 
rectly into  the  side  parts  of  his  eyes. 

But  our  vision  is  not  only  dependent  upon  the  sur- 
rounding impressions.  It  is  no  less  influenced  by  the 
foregoing  visual  stimuli.  If  we  look  into  an  incandescent 
lamp,  we  can  still  see  the  light  for  a  long  while  after 
turning  our  head  toward  the  dark  wall.  If  we  look  into  a 
red  lamp,  we  can  see  on  a  grey  wall  green  spots,  and  if 
the  lamp  is  green,  we  may  get  as  an  after-image  red  spots. 
Whatever  we  see  is  thus  influenced  by  that  which  reached 
our  eye  immediately  before.  Moreover  we  see  all  the  col- 
ors only  in  the  central  region  of  our  field  of  vision.  That 
which  falls  on  the  side  parts  of  our  eye  has  not  any  color 
at  all  for  us,  but  appears  only  light  or  dark.  Not  a  few 
men,  about  2  per  cent,  have  no  sense  of  red  and  green; 
they  are  color-blind.  If  light  becomes  weak,  as  in  late 
twilight,  we  all  are  entirely  color-blind;  then  everything 
appears  only  grey  and  black.  But  our  eye  does  not  fur- 
nish us  with  colors  if  the  light  becomes  overstrong  either. 
Seen  through  a  blue  glass,  the  sun  does  not  appear  blue 
but  white. 

We  do  not  want  to  enter  into  the  more  subtle  details  of 
this  visual  process.  It  is  only  important  to  emphasize 
that  our  seeing  of  the  surroundings  is  entirely  dependent 
upon  the  laws  of  the  nerve  endings  in  our  eye.  One  fact 
suggests  itself  even  from  these  short  observations  which 


Sensation  49 

we  have  mentioned,  namely,  that  red  and  green  stand  in 
a  specially  intimate  relation,  and  also  yellow  and  blue. 
They  are  the  so-called  * '  complementary  colors. ' '  If  they 
are  mixed  the  color  disappears  altogether.  If  we  have  a 
pure  yellow  and  a  pure  blue  glass  and  put  the  one  above 
the  other,  we  see  no  color  at  all.  On  the  other  hand  the 
one  re-enforces  the  other  if  it  precedes  it,  or  if  it  sur- 
rounds it.  If  yellow  costumes  are  to  be  displayed,  a  blue 
background  would  be  the  most  effective,  and  if  the  gowna 
are  blue,  no  background  could  make  them  more  striking 
than  a  yellow  one.  The  same  relation  exists  for  red  and 
green.  In  a  poster  red  figures  become  far  more  influen- 
tial if  there  is  a  greenish  background. 

Sound  Sknsations 

The  world  of  sound  sensations  is  somewhat  further  re- 
moved from  the  interests  of  the  business  man.  Of  course, 
every  spoken  word  belongs  to  the  sphere  of  sound  and 
even  the  melody  which  the  oflSce  boy  whistles  is  sound. 
But  tones  and  noises  are  much  less  essential  with  regard 
to  their  sensation  content.  The  words  which  are  spoken 
interest  us  through  their  meaning,  but  not  through  their 
mere  sound.  It  is  important  for  the  salesman  that  he  see 
the  colors  of  the  wares  correctly,  but  the  sounds  of  the 
words  which  the  customer  speaks  to  him  are  to  him  indif- 
ferent as  long  as  he  understands  correctly  the  meaning 
of  the  phrases.  It  may  be  sufficient  to  say  here  that  all 
the  sounds  are  either  essentially  tones  or  noises.  The 
tones  vary  in  their  pitch  from  the  lowest  tones  to  the 
highest,  in  their  intensity  from  the  strongest  to  the  faint- 
est, and  in  their  timbre,  that  is,  the  particular  tone  char- 
acter which  results  from  the  various  instruments.  A 
tone  of  a  special  pitch  does  not  become  higher  or  lower,  if 
it  is  given  now  by  the  piano,  now  by  the  human  voice, 


50  Business  Psychology 

now  by  the  violin,  now  by  the  trumpet,  but  its  timbre  is 
very  different  in  each  of  these,  cases. 

The  physical  causes  of  these  tones  are  vibrations  of  the 
air  in  the  direction  to  and  from  the  ear.  The  lowest  tones 
demand  about  thirty  vibrations  per  second,  and  the  high- 
est which  the  human  ear  can  hear  demand  about  forty 
thousand.  Between  these  two  limits  about  ten  thousand 
tones  can  be  discriminated  by  a  good  ear.  Out  of  these 
only  certain  tones  are  selected  for  musical  purposes, 
namely,  those  which  stand  in  simple  numerical  relations. 
We  select  for  music  only  those  tones  which  have  a  num- 
ber of  vibrations  for  which  the  relation  can  be  expressed 
by  small  figures.  One  to  two  gives  us  the  octave,  two  to 
three  the  fifth,  four  to  five  the  third,  three  to  four  the 
fourth,  three  to  five  the  sixth,  eight  to  nine  the  second. 
That  is,  if  we  start  from  the  tone  of  one  hundred  vibra- 
tions, the  tone  of  two  hundred  is  its  octave,  the  tone  of 
one  hundred  and  fifty  is  its  fifth.  If  several  tones  stand 
together,  complex  air  waves  result,  which  are  resolved  by 
the  mechanism  of  the  ear.  We  can  hear  a  whole  sym- 
phony over  the  telephone;  yet  there  is  only  one  simple 
iron  diaphragm  in  the  telephone,  which  at  every  moment 
swings  under  the  influence  of  the  vibrations  which  come 
from  the  hundred  instruments  of  the  orchestra.  The  ear 
disentangles  that  complex  wave  into  those  elementary 
waves  which  each  instrument  produces. 

The  timbre  which  is  characteristic  of  every  instrument 
also  results  from  such  a  combination  of  waves.  Each 
violin  or  flute  or  piano  or  mouth  cavity  has  its  special 
combination  of  faint  accompanying  so-called  overtones 
which  melt  into  the  chief  tone.  The  inner  ear  contains  a 
series  of  perhaps  ten  thousand  little  strings  which,  like  a 
harp,  respond  to  the  vibrations  of  the  surroundings.  If 
a  tone  of  five  hundred  vibrations  comes  to  the  ear,  the 


Sensation  51 

liquid  in  the  inner  ear  enters  into  five  hundred  move- 
ments a  second,  and  in  that  long  harp  of  ten 
thousand  microscopical  strings  the  one  string  enters  into 
vibration  which  is  itself  tuned  for  the  five  hundred  move- 
ments a  second.  Then  this  one  string  carries  the  excite- 
ment to  the  brain  in  a  special  nerve  fiber  and  gives  there 
the  one  tone. 

If  tones  which  are  not  musically  related  sound  at  the 
same  time,  a  rough  interference  results.  We  hear  beats, 
a  kind  of  rough  flickering  of  the  sound,  and  if  many  such 
disharmonious  tones  come  together,  this  roughness  sup- 
presses the  tones  and  we  hear  nothing  but  noise.  All  the 
lasting  noises,  like  most  of  the  speech  elements,  result 
from  such  mutual  interference  of  tones.  The  short,  ex- 
plosive, clicking  noises,  however,  are  produced  when  one 
strong  to  and  fro  movement  of  the  air  excites  the  ear. 
At  least  two  such  equal  movements  are  necessary  to  give 
us  a  tone. 

Taste  and  Smell  Sensations 

Taste  and  smell  by  their  relation  to  the  food  industries 
are  of  great  significance  for  the  economic  life.  It  is  es- 
sential to  understand  that  much  which  we  call  taste  is 
really  not  true  taste  sensation.  The  psychologist  recog- 
nizes only  four  kinds  of  taste,  namely,  sweet,  salt,  sour, 
and  bitter.  The  thousand-fold  tastes  which  eating  and 
drinking  can  bring  to  consciousness  result  from  the  com- 
bination of  these  four  simple  taste  sensations  with  tactual 
impressions  in  the  mouth,  with  temperature  impressions, 
and  especially  with  smell  impressions.  Whatever  we  eat 
sends  its  vapors  from  the  rear  part  of  the  mouth  into  the 
nose.  Different  kinds  of  meat  or  tea  or  wine  or  candy 
could  not  be  discriminated,  if  we  had  to  rely  on  taste  sen- 
sations only.    The  softness  or  hardness,  the  warmth  or 


52  Business  Psychology 

coldness,  and  above  all  the  flavor  are  superadded  to  the 
mere  sweetness  of  a  sweet  dish  or  to  the  mere  bitterness 
of  the  tea.  Those  few  true  taste  sensations  are  perceived 
with  the  help  of  the  sense  organs  in  the  mouth.  Those 
for  the  sweet  and  salt  are  mostly  at  the  tip  of  the  tongue 
and  the  edges,  while  those  most  sensitive  for  bitter  are 
more  frequently  at  the  root  of  the  tongue.  Only  liquids 
can  stimulate  these  little  sense  organs.  That  is,  a  hard 
thing  like  a  lump  of  sugar  cannot  give  a  taste  impression 
on  an  entirely  dry  tongue.  The  wetness  of  the  tongue 
must  dissolve  the  surface  of  the  lump. 

The  smell  sensations,  in  striking  contrast  to  the  taste, 
are  numberless,  and  it  is  almost  arbitrary  when  we  group 
them  into  a  number  of  large  classes  and  speak  of  the 
aromatic  smells  of  the  flowers  or  of  the  foul  smells  of 
decaying  substances,  and  so  on.  Fine  nerve  endings  in 
the  upper  channels  of  the  nose  receive  these  messages 
when  the  smell  substance  is  carried  by  the  passing 
stream  of  air.  The  sense  organs  become  fatigued  very 
quickly.  Very  soon  the  mind  is  adjusted  to  the  smell  and 
loses  the  impression.  Certain  smells  stand  in  contrast  re- 
lation ;  after  fatiguing  the  nerves  by  the  one  the  other  is 
felt  the  more  strongly. 

Our  So-Called  Fifth  Sense 

The  sensations  which  are  usually  grouped  together  as 
those  of  a  fifth  sense  can  hardly  be  treated  as  sensations 
of  one  kind,  if  we  take  the  scientific  standpoint.  The 
touch  impressions,  for  instance,  and  the  temperature  im- 
pressions may  both  be  received  by  the  skin.  Yet  they 
are  mentally  quite  different,  and  moreover  they  are 
dependent  upon  different  sense  organs  in  the  skin.  Not 
every  point  on  the  surface  of  our  body  can  receive  mes- 
sages of  cold  or  warmth  or  pressure.    If  we  cool  the  point 


Sensation  53 

of  a  sharpened  pencil  in  snow  and  move  it  slowly  over  the 
back  of  our  hand,  we  feel  that  at  certain  points  a  sharp, 
cold  impression  flashes  up.  We  might  mark  these  points 
with  little  crosses.  If  we  now  warm  the  pencil  and  move 
it  along  the  same  way  we  feel  the  warm  impression  ap- 
pearing also  at  special  points,  but  never  at  the  same  ones 
which  gave  us  cold.  We  may  mark  these  warm  points 
with  little  circles.  But  if  finally  we  begin  to  take  the 
pointed  pencil  when  it  is  neither  warmer  nor  colder  than 
the  hand  and  simply  try  to  find  the  places  where  the  skin 
is  most  sensitive  to  pressure,  we  discover  that  these 
places  of  tactual  sensitiveness  are  neither  where  we  made 
the  little  crosses  nor  where  we  marked  the  little  circles. 
Thus  the  skin  contains  three  different  kinds  of  sense 
organs,  one  which  receives  the  cold  impressions,  one 
which  is  adjusted  to  the  warm  impressions,  and  one 
which  serves  the  perception  of  touch. 

But  we  may  add  still  a  fourth  group.  If  we  take  a 
sharply  pointed  pin  which  easily  penetrates  the  super- 
ficial layers  of  the  skin,  we  can  find  certain  points  at 
which  a  sharp  pain  sensation  arises,  while  at  other 
points  this  is  absent,  unless  our  pin  reaches  the  nerves  in 
the  deeper  layers.  This  shows  that  the  skin  also  con- 
tains special  organs  for  pain.  To  be  sure,  in  practical 
life  we  usually  call  pain  not  a  sensation  but  a  feeling. 
But  the  word  ** feeling"  is  used  in  psychology  in  a  nar- 
rower sense.  Feeling  refers  alwaj^s  to  our  personal  lik- 
ing or  disliking,  to  the  pleasantness  or  unpleasantness. 
Now  it  is  certain  that  every  pain  sensation  is  disliked,  is 
disagreeable,  but  it  is  this  disagreeableness  which  we 
ought  to  call  the  feeling,  not  the  pain  which  we  dislike. 
We  may  also  dislike  a  noise  or  a  smell,  but  we  do  not  call 
the  smell  or  the  noise  a  feeling.    Our  liking  and  disliking 

will  interest  us  when  we  speak  of  the  personal  interests, 
5 


54  Business  Psychology 

but  as  long  as  we  speak  of  sensations  we  ignore  the  ques 
tion  whether  we  like  or  dislike  them  and  consider  only  the 
content  of  the  sensations.  Hence  we  must  say  that  there 
are  four  separate  kinds  of  skin  sensations,  namely,  touch, 
cold,  warmth,  and  pain.  We  should  speak,  accordingly, 
of  eight  senses  instead  of  the  traditional  five. 

The  touch  impression  can  appear  in  all  intensities  from 
the  softest  contact  to  the  strongest  pressure.  The  great 
variety  of  tactual  impressions  results  from  the  combina- 
tion of  tactual  sensations  in  space  and  time.  Every  mer- 
chant and  every  manufacturer  has  to  discriminate  by 
touch  the  subtler  qualities  of  the  wares.  Differences  of 
smoothness  and  roughness,  of  hardness  and  softness,  of 
evenness  and  unevenness,  can  be  easily  detected  by  the 
touching  finger.  Yet  they  do  not  really  represent  differ- 
ences of  tactual  sensations  as  such.  It  is  the  same  touch 
sensation  which  gives  us  now  softness  and  now  rough- 
ness, just  as  it  is  the  same  light  sensation  which  gives  us 
now  a  continuous  light  and  now  a  flickering  one.  The 
flickering  light  is  a  quick  alternation  between  light  and 
darkness ;  the  rough  surface  gives  us  a  quick  alternation 
between  touch  and  interruption  of  touch.  On  the  other 
hand  the  hardness  and  softness  refer  to  the  resistance 
which  the  pressure  of  the  finger  finds,  that  is,  to  the  move- 
ment which  the  hand  can  carry  out  in  touching  the  object. 
The  subtlest  discrimination  of  tactual  impressions  is 
given  to  the  most  movable  organs  of  the  body,  the  finger 
tipi,  the  tip  of  the  tongue,  and  so  on. 

BODILT    SsNBATIOlfB 

We  have  spoken  here  only  of  those  ieniations  for  whieh 
the  source  lies  outside  of  the  body.  But,  after  all,  we 
have  the  same  kind  of  message  to  the  brain  from  the 
physical  world  when  the  source  lies  in  the  limbs  or  in  the 


Sensation  55 

trunk  of  the  body.  When  we  move  our  legs  the  contract- 
ing muscles  give  us  a  muscle  sensation  which  is  very- 
similar  to  the  touch  sensation  which  the  skin  furnishes, 
and  surely  the  pain  which  may  come  from  a  cramp  in  the 
muscles  from  overfatigue  belongs  in  the  same  class  as 
pain  sensations  starting  in  the  skin.  The  psychologist 
is  therefore  justified  in  enlarging  the  sphere  of  sensations 
beyond  the  mere  outer  senses.  He  includes  all  the  im- 
pressions which  originate  in  the  various  organs  of  the 
body  and  which  stimulate  the  little  sense  organs  in  the 
muscles,  joints,  and  inner  tissues  of  the  organism.  All 
the  pains  in  a  disease,  all  the  so-called  organic  sensations, 
hunger  or  thirst,  all  the  movement  sensations  from  the 
contracting  muscles,  from  the  pressure  of  joints,  from 
the  tension  of  the  tendons,  are  to  be  recorded  here. 

These  movement  sensations,  especially,  are  funda- 
mental for  the  organization  of  our  inner  life,  and  we  shall 
soon  discover  that  they  are  responsible  for  the  whole 
development  and  the  structure  of  our  experience.  No 
workingman  in  the  factory  could  perform  his  task  if  he 
had  sensations  only  from  his  eyes  and  ears  and  skin,  and 
did  not  have  sensations  from  his  own  muscles  and  joints. 
Every  movement  which  he  performs  sends  such  a  sensa- 
tion message  to  his  brain  and  makes  him  aware  of  the 
extent  of  the  movement.  It  is  this  group  of  sensations 
especially  which  leads  us  over  to  the  perception  of  space 
and  time. 

TEST  QUESTIONS 

1.  How  does  a  business  man  secure  his  knowledge  of  the  facts 
with  which  he  deals? 

2.  Are  yon  familiar  with  any  illuwons  that  occur  with  refer- 
ence to  the  use  of  our  senses?    What  causes  them? 

3.  Of  what  practical  value  is  it  to  understand  how  our  senses 
produce  illusions? 


56  Business  Psychology 

4.  How  does  the  psychologist  analyze  colors?    What  does  he 
mean  by  saturated  colors? 

5.  How  can  a  business  man  apply  this  knowledge  about  colors 
and  color  combinations  to  practical  everyday  use? 

6.  What  physical  conditions  actually  produce  the  differeat 
tolor  effects? 

7.  How  does  the  structure  of  the  eye  modify  color  impres- 
sions? 

8.  What  is  the  meaning  of  tone,  pitch,  and  timbre  ? 

9.  In  what  industries  is  a  knowledge  of  the  touch  and  smell 
senses  especially  important? 

10.  What  is  the  relation  of  inner  and  bodily  sensations  to  in- 
dustrial eflBciency? 


CHAPTER  VI 
the  pebceptioks 

Grouping  of  Oub  Sensations 

If  we  stand  in  the  office  or  in  the  factory  or  in  the  mar- 
ket, we  are  surrounded  by  visual  and  acoustical  impres- 
sions, and  even  our  touch  sense  and  our  temperature 
sense  and  too  often  our  smell  sense  may  be  engaged.  Yet 
it  would  be  a  very  incomplete  description  if  we  were  to 
speak  only  of  the  sensations  of  which  we  become  aware. 
We  see  shaped  things  in  definite  forms.  It  is  not  simply 
a  chaos  of  sensations,  but  the  impressions  come  to  us  in 
organized  groups  with  space  and  time  and  number  char- 
acter. We  do  not  see  simply  patches  of  grey  and  white 
and  black  light,  but  we  see  a  typewriting  machine  on 
which  each  key  and  each  lever  has  its  definite  form,  and 
we  do  not  simply  hear  a  noise,  but  the  noise  has  rhyth- 
mical time  shape.  The  perception  of  the  things  which 
surround  us  and  which  interest  us  demands  far  more 
than  the  mere  awareness  of  those  masses  of  sensations 
which  enter  into  them.    Their  grouping  is  essential. 

Yet  let  us  not  forget  that  we  are  speaking  so  far  only 
about  the  impressions  which  we  receive  from  without. 
In  seeing  the  typewriting  machine  before  me  I  might  eas- 
ily accredit  to  the  perception  more  than  the  mere  impres- 
sion contains.  I  might  fancy  that  I  see  that  this  is  a 
Remington  machine  and  that  this  part  is  a  shift  key,  that 
the  typewriter  can  be  used  with  a  two-colored  ribbon,  and 
that  it  is  better  than  the  older  models.    But  as  soon  as  we 

57 


58  Business  Psychology 

begin  to  analyze  this  knowledge  psychologically,  it  be- 
comes clear  that  all  this  is  superadded  by  the  mind.  It 
refers  to  ideas  in  us  which  result  from  earlier  experiences 
with  a  machine  or  from  hearsay,  but  nothing  of  this  is 
contained  in  the  immediate  perception  of  the  machine. 
At  every  moment  we  add  reminiscences  of  our  earlier 
experiences  to  that  which  we  actually  perceive.  When  we 
understand  the  words  of  the  letter  which  we  read,  we  per- 
ceive only  those  forms  of  the  words  which  would  not 
differ  if  the  language  were  unknown  to  us.  We  perceive 
a  page  in  Japanese  print  exactly  as  well  as  the  Japanese 
perceives  it.  The  fact  that  he  connects  with  every  sign 
an  idea  which  gives  meaning  to  it  lies  outside  of  the 
process  of  perception.  We  have  to  consider  first  only 
that  which  we  really  perceive  with  our  senses. 

Space  Form  of  Our  Impressions 

The  chief  psychological  interest  turns  to  the  space 
form  of  our  impressions,  and  we  may  naturally  empha- 
size the  space  character  of  our  visual  perceptive  ideas. 
We  have  before  us  a  typewritten  page.  It  is  more  than 
merely  black  and  white ;  it  is  black  in  a  particular  order 
of  black  points;  it  is  this  order  which  groups  the  black 
dots  into  letters,  and  only  this  order  is  important  for  us. 
We  need  not  consider  at  first  the  fact  that  we  read  with 
two  eyes.  We  see  the  shapes  of  the  word  just  as  well  with 
one  eye  only.  We  may  say  that  for  all  flat  objects,  like  a 
printed  page  or  picture,  it  makes  no  difference  whether 
we  look  at  it  with  one  eye  or  with  two.  If  my  right  eye 
alone  looks  on  the  typewritten  page,  the  one  letter  which 
I  am  just  fixating  falls  into  the  center  of  the  retina,  a 
region  in  which  the  nerve  elements  are  nearest  together 
and  in  which  the  most  distinct  vision  is  possible. 


Perceptions  59 

At  the  same  time  all  the  other  letters  of  the  page 
stimulate  definite  regions  in  the  side  parts  of  the  eye. 
The  half  million  retina  elements  can  pick  up  all  the  points 
in  the  surroundings  at  the  same  time.  Yet  this  would 
mean  only  that  hundreds  of  thousands  of  light  impres- 
sions come  at  one  moment  to  our  mind.  What  does  it 
mean  that  we  recognize  space  relations  between  any  two 
points  in  this  field?  The  mere  manifoldness  alone  does 
not  give  us  this  idea  of  distance.  When  we  hear  music, 
many  tones  may  come  at  the  same  time  to  our  mind ;  and 
yet  we  do  not  say  that  the  space  distance  between  two 
tones  is  five  times  larger  than  the  space  distance  between 
two  other  tones.  And  if  a  bouquet  of  flowers  brings  us 
several  smells  at  the  same  time,  we  discriminate  them 
without  feeling  that  they  form  a  circle  or  a  triangle. 
Those  smells  and  tones  are  not  grouped  in  space.  Why 
do  we  group  the  lights  ?  Why  do  we  not  simply  feel  that 
there  are  a  lot  of  light  impressions  1 

We  must  introduce  here  a  principle  which  we  shall  soon 
find  to  be  of  greatest  importance.  We  referred  to  it  in  a 
general  form  when  we  spoke  of  the  nervous  system.  We 
said  that  the  purpose  of  the  nervous  system  is  to  respond 
to  impressions  by  actions.  Now  every  light  impression 
which  comes  to  the  eyes  produces  in  the  brain  the  impulse 
to  a  large  number  of  actions.  We  are  concerned  here  only 
with  one  type  of  action,  namely,  the  eye  movements  which 
are  carried  out  under  the  control  of  the  visual  impres- 
sions. We  said  that  only  the  center  of  the  retina  is  fit  to 
give  us  the  sharpest  discrimination.  Everything  which 
stimulates  the  side  parts  of  our  eye  appears  therefore 
rather  indistinct  and  vague.  We  do  not  see  its  details. 
The  great  function  of  the  brain  centers  which  control  the 
eye  movements  is  therefore  to  secure  such  actions  of  the 
eyeball  as  to  bring  the  vaguely  seen  thing  into  the  fixation 


60  Business  Psychology 

point.  Whatever  falls  on  the  side  parts  of  the  retina 
awakes  in  the  brain  such  an  impulse  that  the  eye  is  tarnofl 
toward  it,  so  that  its  chances  improve  and  it  can  be  seen 
in  detail.  That  which  is  above  the  fixation  point  produces 
an  upward  eye  movement;  that  which  is  to  the  left  a  left 
side  movement;  that  which  is  near  to  the  fixation  point 
involves  only  a  slight  motor  impulse ;  that  which  is  far  out 
from  the  center  near  the  margin  of  the  visual  field  de- 
mands a  strong  motor  impulse. 

The  mere  need  of  getting  clear  images  and  of  thus 
bringing  everything  into  the  fixation  point  involves  a 
constant  movement  of  the  eyeball.  This  is  performed  by 
six  big  bundles  of  muscles  which  are  inserted  in  the  tough 
white  membrane  into  which  the  eyeball  is  packed.  These 
muscles  give  us  slight  sensations;  we  are  aware  of 
whether  we  turn  the  eye  to  the  right  or  to  the  left,  up  or 
down,  and  this  is  ultimately  the  condition  of  our  con- 
sciousness of  direction  and  distance,  that  is,  of  space  per- 
ception in  the  plane  surface.  We  see  the  black  ink  on  the 
paper  distributed  in  the  particular  letter  forms  and  per- 
ceive these  shapes  as  space  distances  from  point  to  point, 
because  we  need  impulses  to  eye  movements  in  going 
from  one  point  to  another. 

Visual  Illusions 

If  our  perception  of  distance  and  direction  depends 
upon  the  extent  and  character  of  our  eye  movement  re- 
sponses, it  is  to  be  expected  that  illusions  will  occur  when- 
ever these  movements  are  re-enforced  or  diminished.  In 
practical  life  we  often  compare  an  empty  space  with  a 
filled  one.  The  filled  one  appears  larger.  For  instance, 
the  empty  distance  between  two  points  appears  shorter 
than  a  dotted  line  of  the  same  length.  This  is  natural, 
because  in  the  case  of  the  empty  distance  our  eyes  fixating 


Perceptions 


61 


first  at  the  one  end  point  can  move  in  an  undisturbed,  sim- 
ple eye  movement  to  the  other.  But  if  we  have  the  dotted 
line,  the  eyes  make  jerking  movements  from  one  point  to 
tlie  next  throughout  the  series,  and  this  involves  a  sum- 
mation of  movement  impulses  which  giv€s  the  impression 
of  a  bigger  space. 

OPTICAL  nJiUSIONS 

iiKiiiiin 


A.  The  divided  half  of  the  line  appears  longer  than  the  un- 
divided. 


B.  If  the  square  is  filled  with  horizontal  lines,  its  vertical 
dimension  appears  larger  than  the  horizontal;  if  it  is  filled  with 
vertical  lines,  the  horizontal  appears  larger  than  the  vertical. 


^ 


C.  The  straight  line  which  passes  obliquely  behind  the  double 
rectangle  does  not  appear  straight. 


6i 


Business  Psychology 


D.  The  two  parallel  lines  through  which  the  oblique  lineB  pass 
appear  bent  outward. 


B.  The  circle  appearg  bent  inward  where  it  touches  the  comers 
of  the  square. 


P.  The  little  circles  appear  to  be  hexagon  s\ 


Perceptions  63 


G.  The  lower  figure  appears  larger  than  the  upper,  while  they 
are  of  equal  size. 

The  psychologist  knows  and  accounts  for  numberless, 
often  troublesome,  illusions  of  that  kind.  Small  angles  are 
overestimated,  straight  lines  appear  crooked,  forms  ap- 
pear distorted,  whenever  the  special  conditions  suggest 
too  strong  or  too  weak  an  eye  movement.  The  eye  sweeps 
more  easily  in  the  horizontal  direction  than  in  the  vertical, 
because  the  attachment  of  the  eye  muscles  to  the  eyeball 
demands  a  very  simple  action  for  the  right-left  movement, 
but  a  rather  complex  one  for  the  up-down  motion.  The 
result  is  that  the  latter  appears  a  little  more  difficult  and 
therefore  a  vertical  line  appears  longer  than  a  horizontal 
one  of  the  same  length. 

We  have  no  right  nor  can  we  afford  to  ignore  these 
illusions  in  daily  life.  The  artisan  and  the  engineer,  the 
architect  and  the  draughtsman,  have  to  count  with  them 
at  every  step.  Even  the  light  intensity  may  influence 
these  eye  movements.  Strong  light  stirs  up  stronger 
impulses  to  motion  than  faint  light.  The  result  is  that 
the  white  object  appears  larger  than  the  dark,  the  hand 


64  Business  Psychology 

in  a  white  glove,  larger  than  in  a  black  glove.  We  have 
that  impression  even  when  no  comparisons  are  possible ; 
for  example,  a  room  with  a  light  wall  paper  appears  larger 
than  one  with  a  dark  one. 

Perception  of  Distance 

It  is  interesting  to  see  how  this  same  principle  of  move- 
ment influence  is  effective  also  when  not  the  seeing  of  the 
plane  surface  but  the  perception  of  distance  from  the  eye 
is  involved,  that  is,  nearness  or  farness.  Of  course  we 
often  decide  whether  an  object  is  near  or  far  from  us  be- 
cause it  appears  large  or  small.  Moreover  we  rely  on  the 
perspective  and  on  the  shadows.  We  have  a  certain  help 
also  in  the  activities  of  the  lens  in  our  eye.  The  nearer 
the  object,  the  stronger  must  be  the  tension  in  our  lens 
in  order  to  get  a  sharp  image,  as  through  the  increased 
tension  the  lens  becomes  more  strongly  curved  and  ad- 
justs itself  to  the  greater  narrowness  of  our  visual  object. 
By  far  the  most  important  condition  for  our  seeing, 
whether  things  are  near  or  far,  lies  in  the  working  to- 
gether of  our  two  eyes.  We  have  said  that  we  can  read 
a  page  just  as  well  with  one  eye  as  with  two.  But  whether 
the  wheel  of  a  machine  in  the  factory  at  which  we  are 
working  is  nearer  or  farther  demands  our  seeing  it  with 
two  eyes,  and  if  one  of  our  eyes  is  covered,  we  may  at 
any  moment  easily  catch  our  hand  in  the  wheel,  because 
we  cannot  judge  the  distance  correctly.  But  when  the  two 
eyes  work  in  harmony  we  are  able  to  discriminate  the 
subtlest  differences  of  depth  and  distance.  Even  if  two 
trees  stand  several  hundred  feet  away  from  us,  we  can 
still  discriminate  whether  the  one  is  a  few  feet  nearer  to 
us  than  the  other. 

The  reason  for  this  is  that  the  two  eyes  see  the  objects 


Perceptions  65 

from  two  different  points  of  view.  The  two  images  in  the 
two  eyes  are  therefore  never  exactly  the  same,  unless  the 
object  is  simply  a  plane  surface.  If  I  look  at  a  picture 
my  two  eyes  see  everything  alike,  as  the  distance  between 
any  two  points  must  appear  equal  from  the  standpoint 
of  the  right  and  of  the  left  eye.  But  if  instead  of  looking 
at  a  picture  I  look  at  the  head  of  a  man  with  whom  I  am 
talking,  my  two  eyes  get  very  different  images.  The  dis- 
tance from  my  friend's  nose  to  his  left  ear  must  appear 
to  my  right  eye  much  greater  than  to  my  left  eye,  as  the 
left  eye  gets  a  foreshortened  view.  Thus  I  have  two  dif- 
ferent images,  and  they  would  produce  double  images  if 
nothing  else  happened.  That  is,  if  I  fixate  his  left  ear, 
turning  my  eyes  so  that  his  ear  falls  into  my  two  fi:xa- 
tion  points,  then  the  picture  of  his  nose  would  fall  on 
two  not  corresponding  points  in  my  two  eyes,  and  I 
should  therefore  see  my  man  with  two  noses.  This  is 
actually  the  case  if  I  fixate  his  ear  sharply. 

But  in  practical  life  we  never  do  that.  We  always  per- 
form eye  movements  by  which  we  bring  everything  which 
interests  us  into  the  fixation  points  of  the  two  eyes.  In- 
stead of  seeing  the  nose  double,  we  quickly  change  the 
convergence  of  our  eyes  and  look  toward  our  man's  nose. 
Now  his  nose  appears  single,  because  it  falls  in  both  of 
our  eyes  on  the  corresponding  fixation  point,  while  his 
ear  would  now  appear  double  if  we  were  to  give  atten- 
tion to  it.  In  other  words  our  eyes  are  constantly  moving 
in  order  to  avoid  seeing  double.  We  want  to  get  one  im- 
pression only  from  the  single  objects  of  the  outer  world 
and  to  secure  that  we  must  continually  change  by  eye 
movements  the  convergence  of  the  eyes ;  that  is,  we  must 
perform  movements  in  order  to  get  distinct  vision  from 
objects  which  lie  at  different  distances  from  us.    What- 


66  Business  Psychology 

ever  is  near  to  us  demands  that  we  bring  the  eyes  nearer 
together.  The  further  distant  the  object,  the  less  the 
convergence.  If  we  look  at  a  star,  our  eyes  look  out 
entirely  parallel.  Every  distance  is  thus  characterized 
by  a  definite  impulse  for  the  moving  together  of  the  two 
eyes.  Hence  we  have  here  too  the  eye  movements  as 
conditions  for  our  feeling  of  depth.  The  seeing  of  near 
and  far  is  then  just  as  much  dependent  upon  the  muscle 
action  of  our  eyes  as  the  seeing  of  right  and  left  or  up 
and  down. 

Space  Pebception  in  Various  Parts  of  the  Body 

Our  space  perception  is  not  confined  to  our  eyes.  Our 
fingers  do  not  receive  only  scattered  touch  sensations, 
but  furnish  us  too  the  ideas  of  definite  forms.  The  work- 
ingman  in  the  factory  in  his  routine  work  relies  on  his 
tactual  space  impressions  no  less  than  on  the  visual.  But 
we  may  discriminate  between  our  active  and  our  passive 
perceptions.  In  the  one  case  we  become  aware  of  a  tac- 
tual distance  by  performing  a  movement.  We  measure 
the  length  of  a  table  by  moving  the  tip  of  the  finger  along 
the  edge.  The  tactual  impression  remains  the  same,  but 
by  its  combination  with  the  muscle  sensation  from  the 
moving  arm  we  build  up  the  idea  of  the  table's  length. 
In  the  passive  perception  our  hand  or  arm  may  remain 
at  rest,  and  we  become  aware  of  a  distance  by  being 
touched  at  two  different  points  of  the  skin.  But  it  is 
very  characteristic  that  this  power  of  our  skin  to  dis- 
criminate two  points  at  a  special  distance  from  each 
other  is  very  differently  developed  at  various  parte  of 
the  body.    A  few  simple  experiments  prov«  the  point. 

If  we  take  a  compass  with  the  two  points  at  a  distance 
of  a  twentieth  part  of  an  inch,  the  tip  of  our  forefinger 


Perceptions  67 

can  discriminate  the  two  tactual  impressions,  and  so  can 
the  tip  of  our  tongue  or  the  inside  of  the  lips.  But  if  we 
put  the  oompass  on  the  back  of  our  hand,  the  two  points 
appear  as  one  only;  we  do  not  notice  the  distance.  The 
two  ends  of  the  compass  must  now  be  put  a  third  of  an 
inch  distant  in  order  to  be  felt  at  two  different  places, 
and  if  we  touch  the  shoulder  the  distance  of  the  two  points 
must  be  perhaps  a  half  inch  and  on  the  back  perhaps  a 
whole  inch.  But  it  is  evident  that  the  back  is  less  mov- 
able than  the  shoulder,  and  the  shoulder  less  movable 
thaii  the  arm,  and  this  less  than  the  hand  and  this  less 
than  the  finger.  We  have  the  subtlest  space  discrimina- 
tion in  the  most  movable  organs,  a  fact  which  is  full  of 
consequences  for  all  kinds  of  manual  work.  It  indicates 
in  a  new  form  that  our  space  judgment  is  intimately  re- 
lated to  our  motions. 

Localization  op  Sounds 

Our  localizing  of  sounds  confirms  this  truth.  If  we 
hear  a  whistle  sounding  from  the  right  or  from  the  left, 
we  are  never  mistaken.  But  if  it  sounds  from  behind 
we  just  as  often  take  it  to  be  coming  from  in  front,  and 
if  it  sounds  in  front  of  us,  we  often  believe  that  it  comes 
from  behind.  The  direct  cause  is  that  when  the  sound 
comes  from  our  right  side,  our  right  ear  gets  much  more 
impression  than  the  left,  and  we  should  never  confuse  it 
with  the  sound  from  the  other  side.  But  if  it  comes  from 
in  front  or  from  behind,  both  ears  get  an  equal  amount 
of  sound,  and  we  are  unable  to  know  which  is  which.  Yet 
we  do  not  know  anything  of  this  different  distribution  of 
sound  in  the  two  ears,  and  that  alone  would  not  give  us 
any  consciousness  of  space.    We  hear  only  one  sound  and 


08  Busif%es9  Psychology 

do  not  know  whether  we  hear  it  more  in  the  one  or  more 
in  the  other  ear. 

The  decisive  factor  is  that  this  excitation  in  the  two 
ears  produces  a  definite  movement  reaction.  As  soon  as 
the  right  ear  gets  more  sound  than  the  left,  the  brain 
sends  out  an  impulse  to  move  the  head  toward  the  right. 
It  is  a  natural  response  to  turn  the  head  toward  the 
source  of  the  sound.  We  learn  to  ignore  that  impulse 
and  to  keep  the  head  at  rest,  but  the  brain  impulse  toward 
such  a  movement  exists  nevertheless,  and  it  combines 
with  the  sound.  The  whistle  appears  as  coming  from  the 
right,  because  we  hear  the  sound  together  with  the  move- 
ment impulse  of  the  head  toward  the  right.  In  short, 
whether  we  rely  on  our  eyes  or  on  our  skin  or  on  our 
ears,  the  world  is  to  us  a  world  of  shape  and  order  and 
form  because  we  respond  to  the  impressions  by  our  move- 
ments. 

Pebceptton  op  Time 

This  same  influence  of  our  own  bodily  responses  can  be 
traced  in  our  perception  of  time.  Our  knowledge  covers 
the  whole  stretch  of  time  far  beyond  our  personal  mem- 
ories and  expectations.  "We  can  think  of  past  centuries. 
But  this  thinking  of  long  stretches  of  time  would  be 
meaningless  to  us  if  we  did  not  know  some  bits  of  time 
from  our  direct  experience.  If  we  hear  the  clock  strike, 
we  notice  that  the  time  between  any  two  strokes  is  equal. 
If  the  last  stroke  comes  a  little  too  late,  we  feel  at  once 
that  the  time  is  longer.  Here  we  have  really  an  imme- 
diate awareness  of  the  passing  of  time.  Take  the  case 
that  we  hear  a  signal,  after  half  a  minute  a  second  signal, 
and  a  third  one  after  fifteen  seconds ;  we  can  easily  notice 
that  the  second  interval  is  shorter  than  the  first. 


Perceptions  69 

What  have  we  noticed?  Nothing  happened  in  those 
intervals.  How  can  we  become  aware  of  the  empty  time 
between  those  signals?  But  anyone  who  tries  to  make 
such  an  experiment  soon  discovers  that  the  intervals  were 
not  really  empty.  It  is  true  nothing  happened  from 
without;  no  sound,  no  sight  may  have  broken  in.  But 
very  much  did  happen  in  our  body,  in  our  muscles  and 
joints ;  and  we  became  aware  of  it.  When  we  heard  that 
first  signal,  a  general  tension  resulted  in  our  muscle 
system,  a  tension  which  helps  us  to  turn  our  attention  to 
the  sound.  As  soon  as  that  first  sound  has  gone,  a  re- 
laxation follows;  and  now  we  wait  for  the  next  sound. 
This  waiting  brings  a  new  tension,  which  after  a  short 
while  may  be  relieved  again,  and  so  we  feel  an  up  and 
down,  mostly  together  with  our  breathing  movements  in 
the  organism.  At  a  certain  point  the  second  signal 
breaks  in,  and  then  we  have  an  idea  of  the  whole  interval 
from  the  total  combination  of  the  sound  impressions  and 
the  impressions  of  tension  and  relaxation.  As  soon  as 
the  new  interval  begins  we  imitate  this  play  of  our  body ; 
we  try  to  go  through  the  same  tensions  and  relaxations. 
The  second  interval  appears  to  us  shorter,  because  the 
last  sound  breaks  in  before  we  have  repeated  that  whole 
story  of  bodily  sensation.  This  feeling  of  tension  and  re- 
laxation becomes  the  foundation  of  our  direct  conscious- 
ness of  time. 

If  we  divide  any  period  of  time  rhythmically  into  equal 

parts,  each  rhythmical  unit,  for  instance,  every  bar  in 

music,  is  equal  to  the  other,  because  each  time  we  pass 

through  the  same  tension  and  relief.    From  these  short 

time  intervals  which  we  perceive  directly  we  can  build 

up  the  whole  system  of  our  time.    As  soon  as  we  have 

to  do  with  longer  time  intervals  we  have  no  possibility  of 
6 


70  Business  Psychology 

direct  experience,  but  then  we  rely  on  the  idea  of  the 
contents  which  filled  the  time.  Looking  backward  one 
week  appears  to  us  longer  than  another  week,  because 
there  was  more  content.  We  had  richer  and  more  mani- 
fold experience.  A  month  of  travel  with  an  abundance  of 
interesting  and  new  events  appears  to  us  in  our  memory 
far  longer  than  a  monotonous  month  in  a  dreary  place 
where  nothing  happened.  We  simply  rely  on  the  rich- 
ness of  the  material  which  filled  the  time. 

But  it  is  entirely  different  with  our  awareness  of  the 
time  while  we  pass  through  such  periods.  When  we  lived 
through  that  dreary  month,  the  time  passed  extremely 
slowly,  and  when  we  had  that  month  of  beautiful  travel, 
the  time  seemed  to  fly.  There  is  no  contradiction.  When 
we  are  going  through  a  period  of  time,  we  feel  its 
passing,  as  we  saw,  by  our  waves  of  tension  and  relaxa- 
tion. If  nothing  happens,  we  are  constantly  waiting  for 
something  to  come.  We  are  therefore  in  a  perpetual 
state  of  tension,  and  that  gives  us  a  feeling  of  very  long 
time.  When  our  time  is  crowded  with  engagements, 
every  moment  impresses  itself  on  us  by  that  which  we  are 
really  doing.  Then  preparatory  tensions  do  not  come 
into  our  consciousness  at  all.  We  live  entirely  in  the 
outer  events  and  ignore  the  passing  of  time.  The  experi- 
ence of  passing  through  a  full  or  an  empty  period  of  time 
is  fundamentally  different  from  the  memory  of  a  past 
time. 

Meaning  and  Impbessions 

We  see  that  our  impressions  of  the  surrounding  world 
have  time  and  space  order  alike  because  we  respond  to 
them  by  our  activities,  by  our  movements,  by  our  ten- 
sions. Finally  we  may  add  that  our  responses  by  action, 
or  at  least  by  preparation  for  action,  also  furnish  mean- 


Perceptions  71 

ing  to  our  imprressions.  We  see  table  and  chair,  scissors 
and  fountain  pen,  hammer  and  saw.  Each  gives  us  the 
impression  of  a  thing,  but  its  real  value  lies  in  the  fact 
that  it  is  more  to  us  than  merely  a  physical  thing.  It 
has  a  meaning,  a  purpose,  a  value.  The  chair  is  some- 
thing to  sit  on,  the  fountain  pen  something  to  write  with, 
the  hammer  something  to  pound  with,  and  the  impulse 
to  these  activities  interprets  the  impressions.  As  long  as 
we  do  not  know  how  to  use  the  thing,  it  has  no  meaning 
for  us.  Its  meaning  deepens  with  our  understanding  of 
the  particular  use,  and  its  meaning  is  completely  known 
to  us  as  soon  as  we  master  its  use,  just  as  even  a  word 
which  we  read  or  which  we  hear  has  meaning  for  us  only 
if  we  know  in  what  situation  to  use  it.  Our  own  impulses 
to  action  and  to  the  use  of  things  transform  the  mean- 
ingless impressions  of  the  world  into  a  world  in  which 
everything  has  its  meaning  and  value. 

Such  a  psychological  analysis  of  our  perceptions  must 
be  made  by  everyone  who  wants  to  understand  the  work- 
ing of  the  mind.  It  is  common  ground  for  all  psychologies 
and  in  no  way  confined  to  business  psychology.  Yet 
it  is  evident  that  the  man  of  practical  affairs  has  an 
especial  interest  in  giving  his  attention  to  this  close  con- 
nection between  our  impressions  of  the  things  around 
us  and  our  own  actions.  The  material  to  which  his  com- 
mercial or  industrial  work  is  devoted  has  no  meaning 
and  therefore  no  value  in  itself.  It  gets  its  value  only 
by  becoming  material  for  human  activities.  They  fur- 
nish the  meaning. 


72  Business  Psychology 

TEST  QUESTIONS 

1.  How  does  mere  awareness  of  a  thing  differ  from  the  per- 
ception of  its  space,  time,  and  number? 

2.  Do  we  get  our  knowledge  of  relationships  through  the  sense 
perceptions  or  through  the  mind  itself  T 

3.  How  do  we  get  our  perceptions  of  space  ? 

4.  How  does  the  question  of  optical  illusions  interest  the  busi- 
ness man  1    Can  you  suggest  half  a  dozen  such  illusions  ? 

5.  What  should  a  shoe  salesman  know  about  optical  illusions  ? 

6.  How  do  we  get  our  perceptions  of  distance  ? 

7.  Why  would  you  feel  uneasy  riding  in  an  automobile  with 
a  one-eyed  chauffeur? 

8.  Why  does  a  dull  day  seem  long  in  living  through  it?    A 
busy  day  short? 

9.  Why  does  a  dull  day  seem  short  in  memory,  while  an 
eventful  day  appears  long? 

10.  What  application  do  you  see  of  these  last  two  factors  in 
relation  to  industry? 

H.  From  a  psychological  standpoint  what  is  the  value  of  a 
dean  factory? 


CHAPTER  VII 
memory  and  ideas 

Memory's  Influence  on  Actions 

Whatever  our  work  may  be  it  is  never  based  only  on 
that  which  we  really  perceive  around  us.  At  every  mo- 
ment our  actions  are  controlled  by  our  impressions  to- 
gether with  a  mass  of  ideas,  memories,  thoughts,  which 
are  added  to  the  given  perceptions  from  our  own  re- 
sources.   Impressions  are  related  to  wider  experiences. 

The  business  man  sees  the  letter  in  his  hand  and  per- 
ceives the  words  with  their  meaning.  But  his  reply  re- 
fers not  only  to  that  which  is  actually  contained  in  the 
written  page,  but  to  his  whole  earlier  correspondence 
with  the  writer  and  to  his  reminiscences  of  conversa- 
tions with  him.  Moreover  he  must  remember  all  the 
details  of  his  affairs,  the  wares  he  has  in  stock,  his 
prices,  his  calculations,  his  advertisements  and  those  of 
his  competitors,  if  he  is  to  answer  that  business  letter. 
He  must  consider  thousands  of  facts  which  are  available 
in  his  memory  in  order  that  his  answer  and  decision  may 
be  really  adjusted  to  the  whole  business  situation.  What 
he  actually  perceives  is  only  a  small  fraction  of  the  world 
of  facts  to  which  he  wants  to  adapt  his  response.  We  all 
move  and  live  not  only  in  the  surroundings  which  we  per- 
ceive, but  in  that  wider  world  of  facts  of  which  we  have 
knowledge  otherwise  than  by  mere  perception  of  our 
senses.  How  do  we  know  the  facts  which  we  do  tot  per- 
ceive? 

73 


74  Business  Psychology 

We  may  disregard  at  first  the  mental  products  which 
we  reach  by  mere  imagination.  That  is  not  trne  knowl- 
edge. Our  imagination  may  sometimes  lead  us  to  correct 
knowledge,  but  it  may  just  as  well  bring  us  to  errors 
and  illusions.  Later  we  shall  see  how  important  imagina- 
tion is  for  every  business  man,  but  it  is  not  a  source  of 
actual  knowledge.  For  this  everybody  must  rely  on 
memory  and  on  thought,  in  addition  to  his  perceptions. 
The  manufacturer  who  discusses  the  sale  of  his  goods 
must  know  what  he  has  to  sell.  While  he  discusses  the 
details,  he  does  not  really  perceive  the  goods  in  his  stock, 
as  they  are  not  stored  up  in  his  office.  But  first,  he  re- 
members the  piles  which  he  has  actually  seen  in  the  store- 
room, and  second,  he  can  form  a  conclusion  as  to  the 
quantities  which  are  heaped  up  in  other  parts  of  his 
factory  and  which  he  himself  has  not  seen.  He  remem- 
bers what  orders  he  has  given,  he  knows  with  what 
exactitude  his  orders  are  filled,  and  by  mere  thought- 
processes  he  thus  reaches  the  knowledge  that  the  manu- 
factured goods  are  really  existing,  although  he  has  never 
seen  them.  It  is  a  pure  act  of  logical  thinking  which 
makes  him  know  how  much  stock  is  under  his  roof. 

How  does  this  separation  of  memory  and  thought  look 
from  the  standpoint  of  the  psychologist?  We  said  that 
the  remembering  of  the  goods  is  based  on  a  previous 
actual  perception,  but  the  thinking  out  of  the  quantities 
of  goods  is  not  based  on  actually  seeing  them  before  and 
therefore  has  nothing  to  do  with  memory.  This  is  per- 
fectly true,  and  yet  the  psychologist  must  add  something 
very  essential.  He  must  insist  that  even  those  products 
of  thought  are  psychologically  nothing  but  combinations 
of  memory.  All  the  mental  elements  which  enter  into  such 
a  thought  product  must  be  known  from  earlier  percep- 
tion!. The  thought  brings  them  into  new  combinations ; 
but  no  thought,  and  we  may  add  at  once  no  imagination, 


Memory  and  Ideas  75 

can  bring  anything  into  consciousness  which  is  not  ulti- 
mately a  mere  reawaking  of  earlier  impressions. 

The  artist  can  imagine  a  new  picture,  but  cannot  im- 
agine any  color  in  that  picture  which  he  has  not  seen 
beforehand.  His  boldest  imagination  can  work  only  with 
those  sensations  which  he  remembers,  that  is,  which  he 
has  had  before  and  which  his  mind  now  reproduces.  No 
thinker  can  produce  thoughts  the  elements  of  which  are 
not  reproductions  of  earlier  impressions.  The  business 
man  who  figures  up  the  newly  manufactured  stock  which 
he  has  not  yet  seen  is  getting  an  idea  of  it  only  from  the 
mental  material  which  he  gathered  before  by  actual  per- 
ception. Our  memories  and  our  thought-ideas  are  built 
up  from  the  same  kind  of  elements  and  their  only  source 
is  the  earlier  perception  of  the  world.  In  our  memory 
we  renew  the  perceptions  of  the  past  in  the  same  order 
in  which  we  received  them ;  in  our  thoughts  we  combine 
them  in  a  new  order;  but  we  can  not  invent  any  new 
elements. 

Impbession  v.  Its  Repboduction 

"While  we  said  that  our  memory  is  a  renewing  of  our 
earlier  impressions,  we  must  not  forget  that  there  re- 
mains a  difference  between  the  impression  and  its 
reproduction.  When  we  remember  the  man  with  whom  we 
talked  last  year,  we  may  see  every  detail  of  his  face  be- 
fore our  mind ;  we  may  even  have  the  power  to  renew  in 
our  mind  every  wrinkle  in  his  forehead,  the  exact  color 
of  his  eyes  and  his  hair,  and  we  may  even  see  his  necktie. 
Yet  not  for  a  moment  do  we  believe  that  we  really  see 
the  man  before  us.  If  we  were  to  take  our  memory-pic- 
ture for  a  real  perception,  we  should  have  what  the  psy- 
chologist calls  a  ''hallucination."  Such  hallucinations 
are  symptoms  of  mental  diseases.    In  normal  life  they  oc- 


76  Business  Psychology 

cur  in  our  drefims.  The  dreamer  really  believe*  that  his 
friend  whose  picture  comes  to  his  mind  in  sleep  is  present, 
but  when  he  is  awake  he  would  never  think  that  the  man 
whose  face  he  sees  in  his  memory  is  actually  present.  If 
it  were  otherwise  he  would  be  unable  to  live  a  reasonable 
life ;  he  would  never  know  what  is  real  and  what  not. 

In  sleep  there  is  no  harm  in  such  hallucinations,  be- 
cause the  sleeper  does  not  act ;  he  lies  without  motion  in 
his  bed,  and  it  makes  no  difference  whether  he  knows  or 
does  not  know  that  the  remembered  and  imagined  sur- 
roundings are  unreal.  But  if  the  business  man  in  his 
office  were  unable  to  discriminate  between  the  visitor  who 
really  enters  through  the  door  and  the  imagined  visitor 
who  simply  enters  over  the  threshold  of  his  memory,  he 
would  live  in  a  state  of  complete  confusion.  This  is  the 
reason  why  we  call  hallucinations  symptoms  of  diseases 
and  put  the  suffering  patient  into  an  asylum  where  he  is 
protected  against  these  dangerous  mental  tendencies. 

For  the  normal  man  it  is  absolutely  essential  that 
everything  which  his  memory  or  his  thought  or  his  imagi- 
nation brings  to  his  consciousness  be  somehow  different 
from  everything  which  is  actually  perceived.  And  yet, 
as  we  said,  it  may  contain  every  possible  detail  of  the 
perception.  Nor  have  we  a  right  to  say  that  the  differ- 
ence is  simply  one  of  intensity.  The  impressions  do  not 
become  darker  or  fainter.  If  we  remember  a  bright  color, 
it  does  not  become  dull  in  our  memory,  and  if  we  remem- 
ber a  loud  sound  it  does  not  become  weak.  We  can  re- 
member the  faintest  sound  and  the  dimmest  light;  and 
yet  they  do  not  disappear  in  memory  by  further  decrease 
of  intensity.  No,  the  strength  of  the  impressions  re- 
mains in  memory  the  same  as  in  the  original  experience. 
The  change  refers  neither  to  the  contents  nor  to  the 
strength  of  the  impressions.    It  is  a  change  which  has 


Memory  and  Ideas  77 

often  been  called  a  ''change  of  vividness."  The  place  or 
face  or  sf>eech  which  we  merely  remember  is  less  vivid, 
less  real,  less  striking,  than  that  which  we  actually  &ee  or 
hear. 

If  we  relate  these  facts  to  the  brain  processes,  we 
should  say  that  all  our  remembering  is  a  renewing  of 
those  brain  processes  which  at  first  are  started  from  our 
sense  organs  and  which  now  appear  again  without  being 
stimulated  by  the  senses.  When  we  really  saw  a  build- 
ing, every  window  and  every  corner  stimulated  the  retina 
in  our  eye  and  this  excitation  was  carried  to  the  rear 
part  of  our  brain.  Exactly  these  same  brain  processes 
are  reproduced  when  we  remember  the  building,  but  this 
time  the  excitation  does  not  come  from  the  retina;  it 
comes  from  some  other  brain  processes  which  preceded 
the  memory.  The  vividness  of  reality  evidently  results 
only  when  the  brain  gets  its  excitation  from  the  sense 
organs,  but  when  the  same  excitation  originates  in  the 
brain  itself,  the  accompanying  mental  experience  is  less 
vivid  and  less  real. 

RbPBODUCTION  of  iMPBESMOrS 

The  individual  differences  in  the  ability  to  renew 
earlier  impressions  are  very  great.  Many  people  have 
hardly  any  power  to  reproduce  visual  impressions  or  at 
least  their  visual  reproductions  are  very  vague  or  lack 
all  color.  Again  others  have  very  small  reproductive 
power  for  sound  impressions.  And  finally  there  are 
many  individuals  whose  visual  and  acoustical  memory  is 
poor,  but  who  reproduce  very  easily  their  original  move- 
ment sensations.  In  a  way,  their  whole  memory  consists 
of  memories  of  actions.  The  muscle  and  joint  sensa- 
tions which  are  experienced  during  the  activities  are  bet- 


78  Business  Psychology 

ter  reproduced  by  them  than  the  sights  or  sounds  to 
which  the  actions  responded. 

These  differences  are  of  thousand-fold  importance  in 
the  business  world,  and  everyone  ought  to  know  how  his 
o\vn  memory  and  the  memories  of  people  with  whom  he 
is  in  contact  are  really  working.  If  the  stenographer  has 
to  remember  a  telephone  number,  it  will  be  beet  to  speak 
it  to  her  if  her  memory  is  essentially  acoustical.  But  it 
will  be  well  to  write  it  down  for  her  if  her  memory  is  es- 
sentially visual.  And  it  will  be  wisest  to  make  her  repeat 
it  either  by  having  her  write  it  or  say  it  if  her  memory 
is  essentially  of  that  motor  type.  As  soon  as  she  speaks 
or  writes  it,  it  has  become  a  set  of  her  own  movements, 
and  they  will  easily  reproduce  themselves,  while  the  mere 
sound  or  sight  would  quickly  fade  away. 

Laws  op  Memoby 
association 

Our  memory  works  in  accordance  with  definite  laws. 
The  fundamental  one  is  that  each  impression  or  idea 
calls  back  to  our  mind  earlier  experiences  which  were 
connected  with  it.  This  connection  may  have  been  one 
of  neighborhood  in  space.  A  man  comes  into  our  office 
and  the  sight  of  him  awakes  at  once  the  memory  of  the 
hotel  lobby  where  we  met  him  last  year.  We  saw  that 
hotel  background  and  the  man  together  in  space  and  the 
two  images  remained  connected.  When  the  one  is  re- 
newed, the  other  will  follow.  If  we  had  again  gone  to 
that  lobby,  it  would  have  reminded  us  erf  the  man  whom 
we  met  there.  But  the  contact  may  be  one  which  is  in- 
dependent of  space.  The  two  experiences  may  simply 
have  come  together.  The  man  who  enters  our  office  may 
first  of  all  awake  in  us  the  memory  of  his  name,  just  as 


Memory  and  Ideas  79 

his  name  might  have  stirred  up  the  memory  of  his  face. 
In  our  original  impression  we  saw  the  face  and  heard 
the  name,  and  they  were  coupled,  or,  as  the  psychologist 
says,  they  formed  an  association-  As  soon  as  one  of 
them  is  renewed  by  experience  the  other  by  the  laws  of 
association  is  drawn  into  consciousness.  In  this  case  the 
two  associated  impressions  come  to  consciousness  &t  the 
same  time. 

But  an  association  may  also  be  formed  if  they  are  im- 
mediately succeeding.  If  the  first  words  of  a  sentence 
which  we  heard  are  brought  back  to  us,  the  other  words 
will  come  to  our  memory.  We  can  trace  in  our  mind  all 
the  stages  of  a  journey.  Each  experience  pulls  into  our 
consciousness  the  memory  of  the  following  or  preceding 
one.  If  we  have  to  perform  a  complex  series  of  acts  in 
a  technical  piece  of  work,  the  performing  of  the  first  act 
awakes  in  us  the  idea  of  the  second,  and  the  performing 
of  the  second  stirs  up  the  memory-picture  of  the  third. 

The  association  of  ideas  is  not  confined  to  such  cases 
of  immediate  neighborhood  in  space  and  time.  The  man 
who  enters  our  oflBce  may  be  entirely  unknown  to  us.  We 
never  saw  him  before.  Yet  he  reminds  us  at  once  of  an 
old  acquaintance  the  memory-picture  of  whom  rushes  to 
our  consciousness.  This  man  before  us  and  our  friend  of 
whom  he  reminds  us  were  never  together  in  our  experi- 
ence ;  and  yet  the  sight  of  the  one  recalls  the  other  simply 
because  they  have  similarity  to  each  other.  But  what  we 
call  similarity  is  ultimately  only  a  community  of  parts. 
In  the  mental  pictures  of  the  one  and  the  other  man  there 
must  be  something  in  common.  Otherwise  we  should  not 
call  them  similar.  Everywhere  we  speak  of  similarity 
only  if  the  two  objects  share  some  elements.  They  may 
be  elements  of  the  content  or  elements  of  the  form.  But 
if  this  is  the  case,  then  this  association  by  similarity  ap- 


80  Business  Psychology 

pears  in  a  new  light.  It  too  can  be  reduced  to  a  mere 
being  together.  The  common  features  are  in  the  one 
impression  together  with  one  group  and  in  the  other  im- 
pression with  another  group  of  sensations.  The  nose 
and  the  eyes  of  the  man  whom  we  see  entering  were 
together  with  an  entirely  different  mouth  and  chin  and 
forehead  in  our  acquaintance.  They  are  together  with  one 
set  of  features  in  the  one  face  and  with  another  set  of 
features  in  another  face.  They  bring  back  the  picture 
of  the  other  man  simply  because  they  were  together  with 
those  accompanying  features  in  the  earlier  impression. 

Similarity  is  a  rich  source  of  our  memories,  but  it  does 
not  introduce  a  new  principle ;  it  is  an  association  based 
on  the  earlier  being  together  of  the  parts.  In  other  words 
all  associations  are  at  bottom  nothing  but  the  returning 
of  that  which  in  an  earlier  experience  was  connected  with 
the  present  impressions.  In  a  good  memory  those  con- 
nected impressions  respond  very  easily;  in  a  poor  mem- 
ory they  are  awakened  with  difficulty,  but  no  memory 
is  equally  good  or  bad  in  all  directions.  A  memory  may 
be  excellent  for  faces  and  names  or  funny  stories  and  yet 
very  poor  for  numbers  or  places  and  perhaps  entirely 
defective  for  melodies. 

BBPBTTTION,    TBESHNESS,    AND    IMPBBSSIVBNBSS 

But  it  is  not  sufficient  to  understand  that  all  remem- 
bering is  based  on  the  reawaking  of  the  experiences  which 
were  connected  in  earlier  impressions.  Our  mind  would 
be  a  chaos  if  everything  rushed  into  it  which  ever  was 
connected  with  our  present  experience.  If  we  looked  into 
our  room  and  everything  reminded  us  of  everything  else 
which  was  ever  linked  with  it,  if  every  chair  reminded  us 
of  the  place  where  we  bought  it  or  of  the  people  who  have 
sat  on  it  and  of  all  possible  chairs  which  have  similarity 


Memory  and  Ideas  81 

to  it,  from  every  single  impression  a  whole  avalanche  of 
memories  ■would  break  into  the  field  of  our  consciousness. 
Yet  we  all  know  that  only  a  few  memory-images  appear 
at  any  one  time.  A  selection  must  occur.  At  every 
moment  most  of  the  material  which  we  might  remember 
remains  outside  of  consciousness  and  only  a  few  associa- 
tions are  admitted.  This  selection  is  not  one  of  our  own 
conscious  effort.  It  goes  on  without  our  knowing  it,  and 
we  can  easily  find  the  causes  which  control  it. 

It  is  first  of  all  the  frequency  of  our  earlier  -experi- 
ences. The  more  often  two  impressions  were  together 
in  our  mind  the  greater  is  the  chance  that  later  the  return 
of  the  one  will  awake  the  memory  of  the  other.  But  even 
every  school-child  knows  that  there  is  one  method  still 
more  reliable  for  the  moment  than  frequent  repetition, 
namely,  the  freshness  of  the  connection.  The  school- 
child  looks  quickly  over  his  lesson  just  before  the 
examination  begins.  He  knows  that  that  which  has  just 
preceded  will  be  ready  for  reproduction  in  his  mind. 
Finally  those  connections  are  favored  which  made  a  deep 
impression  on  us,  which  gave  us  a  special  joy  or  pain  or 
attracted  our  attention  strongly  or  gave  us  a  shock. 

The  traveling  salesman  who  wants  to  be  sure  that  in 
his  talk  with  his  customer  all  the  facts  concerning  his 
wares  and  their  prices  and  the  ways  of  shipping  are  per- 
fectly at  his  disposal,  must  try  to  profit  from  all  three 
ways  to  help  the  memory.  He  must  have  frequently 
studied  the  material  and  connected  the  wares  with  the 
prices.  If  he  has  repeated  them  well,  he  can  be  sure 
that  they  will  be  at  his  disposal  at  any  time.  The  mere 
repetition  has  improved  those  brain  connections.  The 
nerve  paths  in  which  the  excitation  runs  over  from  one 
group  of  brain  cells  to  another  offer  less  and  less  resist- 
ance the  more  often  they  are  used.    But  our  traveling 


82  Business  Paychology 

salesman  will  profit  just  as  muoh  from  going  over  his 
notes  quickly  before  he  makes  his  visit.  What  he  looked 
over  may  be  very  superficial  in  his  mind,  and  the  con- 
nections may  be  so  loose  that  they  will  be  forgotten  to- 
morrow, but  at  first  these  recent  impressions  have  so 
much  energy  in  his  brain  that  they  are  still  more  easily 
reproduced  than  that  which  has  been  ingrained  by  fre- 
quent repetition.  And  as  to  our  third  factor,  our  travel- 
ing salesman  will  surely  not  forget  those  goods  and  prices 
with  which  an  unusually  high  extra  commission  for  him 
is  connected.  The  idea  of  his  own  advantage  with  its 
strong  emotional  pleasure  has  forced  this  particular  con- 
nection 80  fully  upon  his  mind  that  he  will  certainly  not 
forget  it, 

SELECTIVB   POWIB   OP    MEMORY 

Yet  we  must  consider  one  other  aspect.  The  repetition, 
the  freshness,  and  the  impressiveness  of  our  memory  ma- 
terial may  well  explain  why  certain  facts  are  better  held 
in  our  mind  than  others.  The  street  address  which  we 
have  read  on  letter  paper  many  times  will  be  firmer  in  our 
mind  than  one  which  we  read  only  once.  The  address 
which  we  read  this  morning  may  still  be  present,  while 
that  which  we  read  last  week  has  faded  away.  And  the 
address  which  was  strongly  impressed  on  us  by  being 
heavily  underlined  will  stick  to  us  better  than  that  which 
C£ime  inconspicuously.  Yet  these  three  factors  alone  can- 
not explain  to  us  which  ideas  actually  will  enter  our  mind. 
We  must  consider  a  further  feature  of  the  situation. 

Our  memory  never  stands  under  one  influence  only. 
Our  mind  is  never  a  blank  in  which  only  one  impression 
or  one  idea  exists  and  in  which  accordingly  one  content 
alone  starts  the  memory -ideas.  We  always  have  a  large 
number  of  impressions  or  ideas  in  our  oonsciousness,  and 


Memory  and  Ideas  83 

all  of  them  work  together.  The  memory-ideas  which 
really  appear  are  those  which  are  stirred  up  by  all  the 
ideas  present  at  the  same  time.  The  whole  situation, 
the  whole  background,  influences  the  choice  of  the  mem- 
ory-ideas. Our  memory  does  not  throw  into  our  mind  all 
kinds  of  fresh  or  frequently  repeated  or  impressive  ma- 
terial which  happens  to  be  somehow  connected  with  a 
name  or  a  phrase  which  we  hear  or  with  a  thing  which 
we  see.  But  it  selects  among  them  only  those  ideas 
which  are  appropriate  to  the  whole  situation.  We  have 
ideas  of  the  situation  in  our  mind  and  they  all  work  to- 
gether in  strengthening  that  memory  material  which  is 
related  to  all  of  them.  Our  memory  is  a  great  selective 
agency.  We  do  not  select  the  memory-images  by  a  con- 
scious effort,  but  the  ideas  present  in  us  secure  this  se- 
lective effect  by  their  own  mutual  influence.  Hence  we 
can  trust  our  memory  not  only  to  be  ready  to  furnish  us 
with  material  but  to  sift  the  material  before  it  comes  to 
our  knowledge. 

The  Memory  Process 

Where  did  those  memory-ideas  remain  in  the  mean- 
time? Where  are  the  names  and  dates  and  all  our 
knowledge  stored  up  until  the  memory  brings  them  to  our 
consciousness!  Psychologists  dispute  much  about  this 
problem,  and  they  are  grouped  in  two  large  camps.  The 
one  party  says  all  those  ideas  are  in  the  unconscious,  or, 
as  some  like  to  call  it,  in  the  subconscious  mind ;  that  is, 
they  are  somewhere  in  the  mind  but  not  in  the  conscious 
mind.  In  the  other  camp  it  is  claimed  that  the  ideas  have 
existence  only  when  they  are  in  consciousness  and  that 
before  their  appearance  in  our  conscious  experience  they 
do  not  exist  at  all  as  mental  ideas.  What  does  exist  is  a 
certain  disposition  in  our  brain  cells.    We  see  the  room 


84  Business  Psycholegy 

aromid  us  because  it  stimulates  our  eye  and  through  our 
eye  our  brain  cells.  Thus  our  perception  was  not  some- 
where in  the  mind  before  this  stimulation  of  our  brain. 
The  same  holds  true  of  the  memory.  The  brain  cells  be- 
come excited,  this  time  not  by  the  stimulation  of  the 
■ense  organs,  the  eye  and  ear,  but  by  a  stimulation  from 
other  brain  centers.  The  memory-idea  arises  exactly  as 
in  the  case  of  perception  entirely  new  through  the  action 
of  the  brain  cells.  The  experiences  of  yesterday  exist  in 
us  then  not  as  subconscious  ideas  but  as  physical  dispo- 
sitions of  our  brain  cells  to  go  through  that  same  action 
which  they  passed  through  when  we  saw  and  heard  and 
touched  the  world  of  yesterday. 

This  dispute,  however,  hardly  concerns  the  man  of 
practical  affairs.  The  salesman  who  wants  to  rely  on  the 
stored-up  knowledge  of  his  business  details  has  really 
no  interest  to  know  whether  those  figures  or  firm  names 
exist  in  him  as  unconscious  ideas  which  he  can  call  to 
consciousness  or  whether  they  are  dispositions  of  his 
brain  cells  which  he  can  awake  to  that  brain  activity 
which  is  accompanied  by  conscious  knowledge.  For  his 
practical  purposes  it  is  entirely  indifferent  which  theory 
is  accepted.  Either  is  indeed  nothing  but  a  theory,  and 
it  is  therefore  misleading  if  the  popular  literature  on 
practical  psychology  usually  puts  overmuch  emphasis  on 
the  defense  of  the  subconscious  mind.  This  idea  of  the 
subconscious  mind  appeals  more  easily  to  the  public 
which  is  inclined  to  seek  interesting  secrets  behind  the 
cover  of  the  unconscious,  while  the  theory  of  the  brain 
dispositions  is  in  better  harmony  with  the  scientific  facts. 
For  the  man  of  practical  interests  it  is  sufficient  to  un- 
derstand that  all  our  experiences  leave  traces  in  us  from 
which  conscious  memory-ideas  can  arise.  Whether  these 
traces  are  mental  ideas  below  the  surface  of  conscious- 


Memory  and  Ideas  85 

ness  or  whether  they  are  states  of  the  brain  cells  is  to  him 
of  no  consequence. 

Abstract  Ideas 

Instead  of  the  actual  memory  of  special  things  we  may 
have  general  ideas,  abstract  ideas,  of  the  contents  of  the 
world.  If  I  speak  to  an  audience  of  a  hundred  persona 
and  I  say  something  about  the  lot  of  the  workingman, 
every  one  of  the  one  hundred  may  have  a  different  kind 
of  worker  in  his  mind.  One  thinks  of  a  textile  worker 
and  one  of  a  metal  worker,  one  of  a  mason  and  one  of  a 
plumber,  one  remembers  a  single  man  whose  face  im- 
pressed him  and  another  thinks  of  the  picture  of  a  whole 
mill  with  hundreds  of  laborers.  Yet,  whatever  the  chance 
pictures  in  the  mind  may  be,  all  the  hundred  people  have 
the  same  idea  in  mind.  The  one  in  whose  consciousness 
the  idea  of  textile  workers  arises  has  the  same  general 
idea  of  workingmen  as  the  one  who  thinks  of  the 
plumbers,  simply  because  both  know  that  the  idea  which 
they  have  in  mind  is  more  than  that  chance  picture  which 
the  memory  awakes  in  them.  They  all  feel  that  any  num- 
ber of  possible  memories  could  be  substituted.  The  con- 
tent of  their  mind  upon  which  the  understanding  of  the 
sentence  depends  is  not  a  concrete  idea  but  a  general  idea 
which  embraces  every  possible  case. 

"With  the  help  of  such  general  ideas  the  mind  can  bring 
together  the  material  for  new  and  complex  thought.  If 
we  hear  the  sentence,  ''The  wages  of  the  workingman  are 
dependent  upon  supply  and  demand, ' '  each  of  the  words 
is  such  a  general  conception,  which  involves  unlimited 
possibilities.  But  by  their  special  combination  one 
definite  thought  is  awakened  in  consciousness.  Each  of 
those  words  arouses  in  the  mind  only  those  elements 
which  fit  together  with  the  other  words,  and  they  are 


86  Business  Psychology 

then  combined  into  one  simple  unit.  Only  by  such  use 
of  words  can  the  content  of  our  mind  endlessly  surpass 
that  knowledge  which  mere  perception  and  memory  fur- 
nish. Each  word  becomes  the  central  point  from  which 
numberless  relations  irradiate.  All  our  previous  experi- 
ences are  condensed  in  such  general  combinations  of 
ideas. 

Yet  the  mere  ideas  which  the  single  words  suggest  are 
in  themselves  not  knowledge,  because  a  mere  general 
conception  does  not  express  any  truth.  I  can  have  the 
conception  of  the  "wages  of  the  workingman"  and  the 
further  conception  "dependent  upon  demand  and  sup- 
ply," and  yet  I  may  have  no  facts  expressed  by  them. 
They  become  the  representation  of  real  facts  only  by 
adding  the  word  "are";  that  is,  by  claiming  through 
that  word  that  the  one  and  the  other  stand  in  that  definite 
relation.  This  repeats  itself  everywhere.  To  think  three 
plus  five  or  to  think  of  eight  or  to  think  of  nine  is  not 
knowledge,  but  to  think  that  three  plus  five  is  eight  and 
that  three  plus  five  is  not  nine  is  real  knowledge.  The 
connecting  "is"  or  "is  not"  transforms  our  mere  ha\'ing 
of  ideas  into  a  real  possession  of  truth. 

But  what  is  the  mental  content  which  is  expressed  by 
the  "is"  or  "is  not"?  That  is  not  a  mere  image.  No,  it 
is  an  action  of  ours,  an  action  by  which  we  affirm  or  deny 
reality  of  the  content.  Every  thought  contains  such  an 
element  of  our  personal  approving  or  disapproving,  af- 
firming or  denying.  We  insist  that  two  contents  of  our 
mind  belong  together  or  do  not  belong  together.  We  call 
such  a  thought  a  "judgment."  As  soon  as  we  have  two 
judgments  we  can  proceed  in  the  same  way  and  can  af- 
firm or  deny  that  these  two  judgments  belong  together, 
and  so  we  can  come  to  a  new  judgment ;  and  that  we  call 
"reasoning."    Through  this  method  we  may  enlarge  the 


Memory  and  Ideas  87 

circle  of  our  true  ideas  so  that  it  includes  any  knowledge 
of  the  world,  everything  which  science  and  scholarship 
and  life  experience  can  furnish.  But  whatever  we  know 
of  our  personal  affairs  or  of  our  surroundings  or  about 
the  universe  is  in  our  consciousness  composed  of  the  sen- 
sations and  reproductions  of  sensations  and  is  held  to- 
gether and  formed  into  units  by  our  personal  reactions 
and  by  our  acts  of  affirmation  and  rejection. 

TEST  QUESTIONS 

1.  What  part  does  memory  play  in  answering  a  business 
letter? 

2.  Is  imagination  a  source  of  knowledge  ? 

3.  What  is  a  hallucination? 

4.  As  a  practical  proposition,  why  is  it  important  that  actual 
impressions  should  be  more  vivid  than  memory-images  ? 

5.  What  are  some  of  the  factors  to  be  considered  in  memory- 
training  ? 

6.  How  do  we  acquire  abstract  ideas? 

7.  In  what  way  do  our  experiences  contribute  to  our  general 
ideas  of  the  world  and  its  affairs  ? 


PART  THREE  — INTERESTS 

CHAPTER  Vm 
attention 

The  Nature  of  Reality 

We  have  traced  the  upbuilding  of  knowledge  in  our 
mind.  We  recognized  that  this  involves  more  than  a 
mere  passive  state  of  mind.  Consciousness  is  not  only- 
like  a  photographic  film  on  which  the  picture  of  the  world 
is  thrown.  The  contents  of  our  mind  which  we  call  knowl- 
edge, that  is,  which  involve  a  possession  of  truth,  de- 
mand, as  we  saw,  not  only  impressions  but  our  personal 
reactions.  Even  a  memory-image  becomes  a  real  truth 
to  us  when  we  affirm  that  what  we  remember  stands  for 
that  which  happened  in  the  past. 

But  whether  we  have  to  deal  with  perceptions  or  with 
memories  or  with  judgments  and  thoughts  we  are  person- 
ally bound  in  our  reactions,  if  we  are  really  aiming 
toward  truth.  We  cannot  arbitrarily  change  anything; 
we  do  not  feel  free.  Certainly  it  is  an  act  of  mine  by 
which  I  affirm  the  memory-image  of  mailing  my  letter 
last  night.  I  may  now  regret  that  I  did  mail  it,  but  I  am 
powerless  to  change  the  truth,  that  is,  I  am  bound  to  link 
just  this  memory-image  with  the  real  facts.  But  we  are 
not  only  bound  to  affirm  our  memories;  we  are  no  less 
bound  to  affirm  our  correct  thoughts.  If  I  sum  up  my 
credits  and  sum  up  my  debits,  I  may  wish  that  my  calcu- 
lation would  bring  a  better  result;  but  while  all  this  is 

88 


Attention  89 

my  own  acting  and  my  own  doing,  yet  I  am  entirely  bound 
and  have  no  freedom  to  replace  the  unwelcome  figure  by 
a  better  one,  if  I  want  the  result  of  my  thought  movement 
to  be  true. 

The  possession  of  truth  demands  our  activity,  but  we 
are  entirely  bound  in  that  activity.  As  soon  as  we  pro- 
ceed according  to  our  fancy,  we  have  left  the  realm  of 
knowledge.  The  world  of  facts  forces  itself  on  our  mind 
and  demands  that  we  act  in  complete  submission  to  stub- 
bom  reality. 

OuE  Relationship  to  Reality 

Yet  in  the  midst  of  this  world  of  facts  we  stand  as  per- 
sonalities with  our  personal  interests.  We  have  to  live 
our  individual  lives.  Our  aim  cannot  be  to  know  the 
whole  truth,  that  is,  to  know  everything  which  ever  oc- 
curred in  the  universe.  We  need  knowledge  only  of  that 
which  concerns  us  and  that  which  has  immediate  contact 
with  us  and  serves  our  aims  and  ends  of  life.  Our  per- 
ceiving, remembering,  and  thinking  in  which  we  appear 
so  entirely  passive  in  obedience  to  the  laws  of  truth  must 
be  brought  under  the  control  of  our  own  interests,  which 
sift  that  which  refers  to  our  needs  from  that  which  is 
indifferent  for  us.  We  cannot  change  the  truth,  but  we 
can  sift  the  truth,  selecting  those  parts  of  the  truth  which 
we  must  consider  if  we  are  to  fulfill  our  tasks.  The  work- 
ingman  must  know  the  details  of  the  machine  at  which  he 
is  working.  To  know  with  the  same  accuracy  all  the  other 
machines  in  the  country  would  certainly  be  additional 
true  knowledge,  but  it  would  not  help  him  in  the  least  in 
earning  his  wages. 

The  banker  surely  must  have  a  much  wider  outlook. 
He  must  know  not  only  the  contents  of  his  own  bank  books, 
but  he  must  know  many  facts  concerning  the  national  and 


90  Business  Psychology 

international  market ;  he  must  know  the  men  with  whom 
he  deals  and  much  about  industries  and  resources.  Yet 
even  that  which  he  knows  is  not  the  trillionth  part  of  the 
truthful  knowledge  which  he  might  acquire.  While  he 
knows  something  of  the  economic  facts,  he  has  never 
studied  Egyptian  history  or  differential  calculus,  and  he 
does  not  even  remember  any  longer  the  advertisements 
over  which  his  eye  glanced  in  last  year's  newspapers.  In 
short,  from  the  immeasurable  quantities  of  possible  true 
ideas  he  too  and  everyone  controls  by  his  special  interests 
the  selection  of  the  material  in  consciousness. 

This  brings  us  to  the  second  great  group  of  processes  in 
the  mind.  The  first  contained  everything  which  secured 
the  acquisition  of  knowledge ;  the  second  must  contain  the 
acts  by  which  the  contents  of  consciousness  are  selected. 
In  the  first  group  everything  depends  upon  the  experi- 
ences from  without;  in  the  second  everything  goes  back 
to  the  actions  from  within.  There  we  had  to  do  with  the 
surroundings  and  here  with  the  personality. 

Nature  of  Attention 

The  great  means  of  the  mind  for  this  end  is  the  mechan- 
ism of  attention.  The  attention  is  the  central  power  by 
which  we  admit  some  material  and  eliminate  all  the  rest. 
We  are  occupied  by  a  problem ;  its  details  absorb  our  at- 
tention ;  all  the  hundred  other  engagements  are  forgotten 
for  the  time  being.  We  are  writing  a  letter;  all  our 
thought  is  centered  on  its  content.  We  may  ignore  even 
the  conversation  around  us;  we  may  not  hear  the  noise 
from  the  street;  we  may  be  unaware  of  our  plans  for 
the  rest  of  the  day;  everything  is  removed  from  con- 
sciousness and  only  the  question  about  which  we  are  writ- 
ing controls  our  mind.  We  must  consider  the  various 
features  which  are  involved  in  such  an  act  of  attention. 


Attention  91 

The  aim  of  every  process  of  attention  is  to  get  a 
stronger  hold  of  the  object  before  us.  We  want  more 
insight.  If  it  is  something  which  we  see  or  hear  or  touch, 
we  want  more  detail,  more  clearness,  more  understand- 
ing. If  the  object  is  a  thought,  an  abstract  idea,  we  want 
to  get  more  of  its  connections  and  of  its  whole  setting; 
we  want  to  draw  its  consequences,  that  is,  again ;  we  want 
to  grasp  more  of  that  which  is  contained  in  it.  If  we  give 
our  attention  to  a  memory-idea,  we  want  to  trace  every- 
thing which  belonged  to  it  in  the  past.  Our  attention 
is  always  an  inner  activity.  It  prompts  us  to  go  beyond 
that  which  we  possess  at  the  moment,  to  want  to  grasp 
more  of  it,  or  to  want,  at  least,  to  secure  its  uninterrupted 
continuation. 

This  activity  may  be  entirely  spontaneous,  that  is,  it 
may  result  from  our  own  inner  wishes  and  ideas.  Or  it 
may  be  called  out  by  the  needs  of  the  situation.  In  the 
first  case  we  speak  of  voluntary  attention;  in  the  other 
case  of  involuntary.  If  in  a  group  of  men  before  me  I 
single  out  one  because  I  have  a  question  in  mind  which 
he  is  to  answer,  I  turn  my  attention  to  him  because  my 
own  idea  makes  me  do  so.  But  if  in  that  group  suddenly 
one  turns  to  me  and  indicates  by  gestures  that  he  wants 
to  speak  to  me  or  begins  to  address  me,  my  involuntary 
attention  is  drawn  to  him. 

The  Four  Attention  Processes 
vividness 

The  act  of  attention  may  be  said  to  consist  of  four  dif- 
ferent processes.  First,  the  object  to  which  we  attend  be- 
comes clearer  and  more  vivid  in  our  mind.  This  must 
not  be  confused  with  a  change  in  the  strength  or  in- 
tensity of  the  impression.     A  color  does  not  become 


92  Business  Psychology 

lighter,  a  tone  does  not  become  louder,  a  figure  does  not 
become  larger  when  we  turn  our  attention  to  it.  The 
change  is  exclusively  one  of  impressiveness.  The  whis- 
pered word,  if  it  attracts  our  attention,  does  not  grow  in 
strength,  but  it  takes  stronger  hold  of  our  mind  in  spite  of 
the  fact  that  it  remains  much  less  loud  than  other  words 
spoken  around  us  to  which  we  do  not  listen.  As  soon  as 
this  increase  of  vividness  and  impressiveness  is  going 
on,  the  details  stand  out  from  one  another  and  therefore 
everything  becomes  clearer.  The  more  concentrated  our 
attention,  the  more  sharply  do  we  recognize  the  differ- 
ences between  the  various  elements. 

EXCLUSION 

But  this  increased  impressiveness,  vividness,  and  clear- 
ness of  the  attended  object  in  our  mind  always  goes  to- 
gether with  the  second  feature,  which  is  no  less  essential. 
It  is  a  negative  one.  The  ideas  not  attended  fade  away 
and  lose  their  impressiveness.  To  be  sure,  the  workingman 
can  feed  his  machine  with  perfect  regularity,  and  yet  his 
thoughts  may  wander.  While  he  makes  his  regular  arm 
and  foot  movements  he  may  think  of  his  family  or  of  poli- 
tics. But  this  is  possible  only  because  the  whole  act  has 
become  mechanical,  or,  as  the  psychologist  would  say, 
automatic.  He  does  not  really  give  his  attention  to  the 
movements  which  he  performs.  If  some  hitch  suddenly 
comes  in  the  macbine,  he  must  give  bis  attention  to  it 
and  at  that  moment  family  and  politics  fade  away  and 
disappear  from  his  consciousness.  The  object  of  atten- 
tion does  not  allow  the  presence  of  anything  which 
interferes  with  its  first  rights. 

This  negative  change  is  exactly  the  opposite  of  the 
positive  change  of  vividness.  It  is  indeed  a  decrease  in 
vividness  and  in  impressiveness  only.   It  is  not  a  decrease 


Attention  93 

in  strength.  If  we  write  a  letter  while  the  noise  of  the 
factory  is  around  us,  the  noise  does  not  in  the  least  de- 
crease in  intensity.  Its  strength  remains  the  same,  and 
only  its  impressiveness  on  our  mind  has  gone.  It  has  lost 
so  much  in  vividness  that  we  are  not  even  aware  that  it 
reaches  our  mind  at  all ;  and  yet  if  the  noise  of  the  ma- 
chines were  suddenly  to  stop  or  even  to  become  weaker 
we  should  notice  it  at  once.  The  technical  term  for  this 
suppression  of  the  material  which  is  not  attended  is 
"mental  inhibition."  This  inhibition  can  pass  through 
all  degrees.  We  may  even  become  unaware  of  a  tooth- 
ache if  we  are  fully  absorbed  by  the  startling  telegram 
we  just  received. 

Where  the  demarcation  line  lies  between  what  we  at- 
tend and  what  we  rule  out  must  depend  upon  our  per- 
sonal motives.  When  I  enter  a  mill  in  conversation  with 
the  manager  who  shows  me  the  establishment,  I  may  be 
so  absorbed  by  the  sight  that  I  inhibit  the  words  which 
he  is  speaking,  that  is,  I  am  inattentive  to  his  conversa- 
tion, while  the  room  as  a  whole  impresses  itself  vividly 
on  me.  In  the  next  moment  it  is  only  one  particular  cor- 
ner of  the  room  in  which  a  few  girls  work  around  a  table 
which  becomes  impressive  and  clear  in  its  details,  while 
all  the  rest  of  the  room  loses  its  vividness.  One  instant 
later  even  that  whole  group  may  lose  its  hold  on  my  mind 
and  only  the  face  of  one  girl  attracts  my  attention  and 
the  whole  room  and  all  the  conversation  may  be  lost. 

How  much  or  how  little  we  are  to  welcome  and  to  re- 
enforce  and  to  make  vivid  can  be  decided  by  us  before- 
hand. An  illumination  engineer  who  is  interested  in 
street  lanterns  may  travel  through  all  Europe  and  bring 
home  from  his  trip  nothing  but  the  memory  of  different 
lighting  systems.  Whatever  cities  and  streets  he  passed 
through,  he  gave  his  attention  only  to  that  which  he 


94  Business  Psychology 

wanted  to  see,  as  that  alone  had  importance  for  his  pur- 
poses. An  architect  might  have  returned  from  the  same 
trip  without  any  memory  of  the  lanterns  but  with  most 
vivid  ideas  of  the  fronts  of  the  buildings.  A  dry  goods 
importer,  on  the  other  hand,  might  have  ignored  the 
buildings  and  the  lights  and  seen  only  the  gowns  of  the 
people  on  the  street.  We  can  set  our  attention  before- 
hand and  only  those  objects  for  which  it  is  set  will  come 
to  their  strongest  impressiveness  and  clearness,  while 
everything  else  remains  to  a  certain  degree  inhibited. 
"We  shall  speak  later  about  the  individual  differences  in 
that  respect,  but  fundamentally  everyone  can  prepare 
his  attention  and  thus  secure  a  mental  state  in  which  cer- 
tain impressions  or  ideas  or  memories  become  re-en- 
forced and  others  excluded. 

TBANSITION    TO    ACTIVITY 

The  third  feature  of  the  act  of  attention  is  the  tran- 
sition to  acftivity.  As  soon  as  we  focus  our  attention  on 
something  in  our  surroundings  we  are  ready  to  act  in 
response  to  it.  All  our  movements  become  related  to 
that  impressive  object,  while  those  neglected  and  in- 
hibited impressions  are  no  longer  starting  points  for  any 
action.  This  is  not  accidental.  On  the  contrary,  as  soon 
as  we  examine  the  case  more  carefully,  we  discover  that 
this  readiness  for  action  is  intimately  connected  with  the 
increase  of  vividness  in  the  attended  and  the  decrease  of 
vividness  in  the  not  attended  ideas.  This  connection  is 
full  of  importance  for  our  whole  mental  behavior  and  to 
understand  it  well  is  an  essential  condition  for  true  con- 
trol of  our  mental  life  in  the  interest  of  our  practical 
tasks.  The  situation  is  this:  The  vividness  of  the  im- 
pression or  idea  is  itself  dependent  upon  our  readiness 
to  act  in  response  to  it    An  impression  takes  hold  of  us 


Attention  95 

if  we  are  prepared  to  act  toward  it,  and  an  impression  re- 
mains reduced  in  its  vividness  and  does  not  take  hold  of 
us  if  we  are  unprepared  to  act,  if  it  finds  no  response  in 
us.  Our  preparation  for  action  or  suppression  of  action 
becomes  in  this  way  a  preparation  for  the  re-enforcement 
or  the  inhibition  of  the  impressions  themselves. 

Our  preparation  for  that  which  we  ourselves  are  to  do 
is  decisive  for  the  impressions  which  the  surroundings 
will  make  on  us.  Our  readiness  to  write  a  letter  makes 
those  ideas  which  we  want  to  write  impressive  in  our 
mind.  Then  the  chance  impressions  which  our  eye  could 
get  through  the  window  do  not  take  any  hold  on  our  mind. 
But  if  we  prefer  to  look  out  of  the  window  and  are  pre- 
pared for  that  set  of  movements,  then  the  ideas  needed 
for  the  letter- writing  will  fade  away  in  our  mind  and  any 
chance  happening  on  the  street  will  attract  us,  will  take 
hold  of  our  consciousness,  and  our  whole  attention  will 
soon  belong  to  the  snowballing  boys  on  the  street,  while 
the  letter  at  our  desk  is  forgotten. 

Only  from  this  point  of  view  do  we  understand  that  the 
increased  vividness  of  some  contents  of  the  mind  is  al- 
ways connected  with  the  decreased  vividness  of  the  other 
contents.  The  actions  are  responsible.  We  cannot  per- 
form two  opposite  actions  at  the  same  time;  we  cannot 
write  the  letter  and  look  out  of  the  window;  we  cannot 
sit  down  and  stand  up  at  the  same  time ;  nor  can  we  turn 
to  the  right  and  to  the  left,  or  open  our  hand  and  close  it. 
Whatever  action  we  perform  must  exclude  the  opposite 
action.  The  structure  of  our  organism  demands  that. 
All  our  muscles  are  arranged  in  pairs.  The  biceps  of 
our  upper  arm  bends  our  arm,  the  triceps  stretches  it,  and 
the  mechanism  of  our  nervous  system  is  so  arranged  that 
if  the  impulse  goes  to  the  one,  the  nervous  path  of  the 
other  is  closed. 


96  Business  Psychology 

Now  we  can  understand  how  everything  hangs  to- 
gether. As  soon  as  an  impression  or  an  idea  comes  to  our 
mind  which  finds  the  paths  for  action  open,  this  idea  be- 
comes vivid  and  impressive  and  leads  really  to  the  action 
itself.  But  as  soon  as  the  impulse  to  the  action  is  de- 
veloped, the  path  for  the  opposite  action  becomes  closed, 
and  as  soon  as  this  opposite  path  is  blocked,  the  vividness 
of  all  the  impressions  and  ideas  which  would  demand 
action  in  this  blocked  path  becomes  decreased.  They 
fade  away.  The  shading  of  the  world  is  thus  dependent 
upon  our  readiness  and  unreadiness  for  action.  Every 
new  ability  to  react  and  to  respond  by  our  movements 
opens  to  us  new  fields  of  interest.  The  tool  which  we 
know  how  to  handle  and  which  we  are  prepared  to  use 
enters  into  the  focus  of  our  attention ;  the  one  which  we 
do  not  know  how  to  use  is  an  indifferent  impression  which 
we  ignore. 

FEELING  OF  ONE's  SELF  IN  ATTENTION 

"We  may  add  only  one  feature  to  the  study  of  attention. 
In  every  act  of  attention  we  feel  ourselves.  The  things 
which  we  see  and  hear  or  which  memory  carries  to  our 
mind  but  which  remain  indifferent  to  us  go  on  in  us  too. 
But  we  do  not  feel  active  in  them.  Only  when  we  fixate 
something  in  the  visual  field,  or  listen  to  something  in  the 
sound  world,  or  concentrate  our  mind  on  a  remembered 
event,  or  devote  our  thoughts  to  a  problem,  do  we  feel 
that  we  ourselves  are  active.  But  this  stands  in  nearest 
relation  to  the  fact  which  we  have  just  discussed,  namely, 
that  the  attended  content  of  mind  becomes  the  starting 
point  for  action. 

As  far  as  the  outer  world  and  its  objects  are  concerned 
the  first  action  is  of  course  the  adjustment  of  the  body  to 
the  impression.    For  instance,  we  cannot  give  attention 


Attention  97 

to  something  which  we  see  without  turning  the  eyeballs 
so  that  the  attended  object  falls  into  the  center  of  the 
two  retinae,  that  is,  on  the  fixation  points.  It  needs  much 
training  to  give  attention  to  something  which  falls  on 
the  side  parts  of  the  retinae.  The  natural  tendency  is  to 
fixate  the  attended  object,  to  turn  the  head  to  the  source 
of  the  sound,  to  strain  the  muscles  of  the  arm  if  the  finger 
touches  the  object  of  attention.  Moreover  the  whole  body 
enters  into  a  state  of  tension,  as  that  alone  secures  the 
steady  position  of  the  sense  organs  on  which  we  can  gain 
the  strongest  impression.  Even  the  breathing  becomes 
more  regular  and  somewhat  artificial  from  this  general 
tension.  The  muscles  of  the  forehead  become  contracted. 
These  movements,  helpful  to  the  purpose  of  getting  the 
greatest  amount  of  impression,  bring  the  feeling  of  our 
own  body  into  prominence,  and  this  feeling,  composed  of 
many  movement  sensations  and  tension  sensations,  makes 
us  aware  that  we  ourselves  are  actively  engaged  in  the 
process  of  attention. 

How  TO  Secure  Attention 

We  said  that  the  chief  motive  for  the  direction  of  our 
attention  is  our  preparedness  for  reaction,  and  this  is 
controlled  by  our  training  and  our  present  ideas.  "We 
see  in  our  surroundings  that  for  which  we  have  set  our 
mind.  We  did  set  it  by  preparing  certain  reactions.  But 
this  does  not  exclude  the  strong  effectiveness  of  the  outer 
conditions.  We  may  not  have  prepared  for  a  definite 
action.  Then  we  are  ready  to  enter  into  any  response. 
Not  everything  will  be  equally  fit  to  awake  our  reactions. 
The  sudden  stimulus,  the  very  strong  impression,  the  un- 
usual occurrence  will  be  more  effective  than  the  slow, 
the  faint,  the  customary  happening.  No  one  can  help 
giving  his  attention  to  the  sound  of  an  explosion  in  his 


98  Business  Psychology 

neighborhood.  The  mere  strength  of  it  seems  to  break 
open  the  paths  for  reaction.  But  whether  the  noise  of  a 
banging  door  still  really  attracts  our  attention  or  not  will 
depend  upon  the  habits  in  our  office. 

While  it  is  true  that  the  customary  has  little  power  to 
stir  our  attention  in  comparison  with  the  unusual  and 
startlingly  new,  we  must  not  forget  the  opposite,  namely, 
that  just  the  familiar  in  a  strange  surrounding  must  draw 
our  attention  most  of  all.  A  face  which  we  know  holds 
our  attention  when  it  appears  in  a  crowd  of  strangers. 
All  the  unknown  faces  remain  indifferent,  because  we  are 
not  set  for  a  reaction.  The  one  which  is  connected  with  our 
earlier  experiences  releases  reactions  for  which  we  are 
prepared  through  our  earlier  acquaintance  and  this  readi- 
ness to  respond  gives  to  the  impression  its  accent  in  con- 
sciousness. It  becomes  vivid  and  enters  into  the  center 
of  our  attention. 

This  leads  to  a  very  essential  point.  Attention  can  be 
drawn  by  breaking  into  the  mind,  by  startling  effects  of 
newness,  originality,  glaring,  loud  impressions,  and  what- 
not. And  yet  the  safest  way  and  the  most  effective  is 
that  which  makes  use  of  the  existing  dispositions  for 
action.  Whoever  appeals  to  the  personal  experiences, 
to  the  habitual  inclinations,  to  the  natural  interests,  to 
the  well-trained  responses  of  a  man  will  draw  his  atten- 
tion and,  above  all,  will  hold  his  attention  much  better 
than  he  who  starts  with  entirely  new  appeals.  I  can  force 
myself  on  anyone's  attention  by  suddenly  shouting  to 
him,  but  he  will  not  go  on  listening  to  me  if  my  remarks 
cannot  touch  levers  of  natural  interest  in  him  and  do  not 
refer  to  anything  which  makes  him  internally  respond. 
The  larger  the  groups  of  associations  which  my  argu- 
ments stir  up,  the  greater  the  chance  that  his  attention 
will  remain  with  me.    Each  of  those  assoeiationB  is  a 


Attention  99 

starting  point  for  possible  action,  and  all  those  wide- 
open  paths  for  reactions  will  secure  in  his  mind  vivid- 
ness for  every  word  which  I  speak. 

How  TO  Hold  Attention 

The  holding  of  attention  is  indeed  very  different  from 
the  mere  awaking  of  attention.  We  saw  that  we  are 
attentive  only  as  long  as  all  the  ideas  which  would  lead 
to  opposite  action  are  inhibited  and  suppressed.  But 
these  ideas  suppressed  for  a  moment  are  soon  growing  in 
strength.  They  push  themselves  into  consciousness  and 
they  will  get  the  more  chance  the  less  their  rivals  can 
really  hold  our  attention  by  new  appeals.  The  result  is 
the  fluctuation  of  attention  which  is  characteristic  of 
every  mind.  We  cannot  keep  our  attention  fully  applied 
to  anything  for  a  long  time.  There  are  always  larger  or 
smaller  variations.  If  we  hold  our  watch  so  far  from 
our  ear  that  we  just  hear  its  ticking  and  listen  with  full 
attention,  after  a  few  seconds  the  sound  will  disappear. 
Some  seconds  later,  it  will  come  again,  and  so  it  may 
come  and  go  for  a  long  while.  Anyone  may  try  to  look 
at  a  printed  word  which  interests  him.  Let  him  stare 
at  it  for  five  minutes  and  he  will  notice  that  the  word 
begins  to  crumble,  to  lose  its  meaning.  He  will  see  only 
single  letters,  he  cannot  keep  his  attention  on  the  word 
as  a  whole  word  with  a  meaning.  Our  attention  needs 
frequent  change  in  order  to  stir  up  ever  new  reactions, 
as  otherwise  the  opposite  reactions  would  become  effect- 
ive. 

We  keep  attentive  in  a  lecture  for  a  whole  hour  because 
it  is  not  one  single  content  which  demands  our  attention 
but  eyery  sentence  brings  new  thought.  Yet  inasmuch  as 
it  is  after  all  one  group  of  ideas  only  which  the  lecturer 
brings  before  us,  even  there  it  may  be  difficult  for  us  to 


100  Business  Psychology 

fix  our  attention  in  the  one  direction  if  that  one  group 
of  ideas  does  not  appeal  to  our  ordinary  activities,  and 
the  result  is  a  wandering  of  our  mind.  Our  attention  is 
suddenly  turning  away  from  the  topic  of  the  address  to 
some  home  image  and  to  the  work  in  our  office. 

The  opposite  reactions  have  the  best  chance  when  the 
attended  impressions  begin  to  fatigue  us,  especially  when 
bodily  fatigue  sensations  from  long  muscle  work  enter 
the  mind.  Every  fatigue  sensation  works  as  a  stimulus 
to  stop  the  work  and  thus  to  close  the  channels  of  reac- 
tion. But  we  saw  that  as  soon  as  the  channels  of  reaction 
are  closed  the  impressions  themselves  become  less  vivid, 
less  impressive  and  finally  dull  and  inhibited.  Bodily 
fatigue  therefore  interferes  with  our  attention.  But 
also  without  such  muscle  work  purely  mental  fatigue  has 
the  same  effect.  As  soon  as  the  brain  center  gets 
exhausted,  it  becomes  unable  to  produce  the  necessary 
reactions  and  as  soon  as  the  reactions  stop  the  sup- 
pressed opposite  reactions  find  their  chance.  The  at- 
tended idea  fades  away  and  the  so  far  suppressed  ideas 
rush  into  the  mind.  We  stop  being  attentive;  we  are 
attracted  by  anything  which  draws  us  away. 

Application  to  Business 

These  simple  facts  of  attention  must  play  a  funda- 
mental role  in  the  world  of  commerce  and  industry.  No 
work  can  be  done  in  any  realm  of  human  endeavor  with- 
out concentrated  attention.  But  work  along  commercial 
and  especially  along  industrial  lines  demands  continuity 
of  rather  equal  attention  to  an  unusual  degree.  The 
workingman  in  the  mill,  the  clerk  in  the  office,  the  sales- 
man in  the  store,  the  supervisor  in  the  factory  may  not 
have  to  concentrate  his  attention  with  the  extreme 
intensity  which  a  scholar  or  a  lawyer  or  a  physician  or  a 


Attention  101 

politician  or  a  minister  needs  for  a  particular  act.  But 
he  has  to  hold  his  attention  fixed  on  his  work  with  very- 
little  interruption.  He  himself  and,  above  all,  those  who 
plan  the  work  for  him  and  pay  him  for  his  services  have 
accordingly  the  greatest  interest  to  understand  the  con- 
ditions under  which  attention  can  be  most  efficient. 

A  workingman  whose  attention  is  constantly  drawn 
away  by  irregular  or  rhythmical  noises  in  the  factory,  a 
clerk  who  is  constantly  disturbed,  will  never  produce  the 
best  possible  work.  But  as  soon  as  the  eye  of  the  em- 
ployer is  sharpened  for  the  psychological  conditions  he 
will  easily  discover  sources  of  distraction  and  friction 
and  irritation  which  are  not  so  much  on  the  surface. 

On  the  other  hand  it  will  be  possible  everywhere  to 
create  positive  conditions  which  will  help  the  attention. 
In  good  light,  for  instance,  the  laborer  or  the  clerk  or  the 
salesman  can  see  the  details  of  his  work  with  much 
greater  ease  than  in  poor  illumination;  the  more  detail 
he  sees,  the  clearer  the  visual  impression,  the  more  easily 
he  starts  the  correct  reactions,  and  the  more  eager  must 
be  his  attention. 

But  it  is  not  only  a  question  of  the  outer  conditions. 
We  have  emphasized  that  the  preparation  for  action,  and 
that  means  the  previous  training  and  the  acquisition  of 
ideas  about  the  work,  are  most  helpful.  Nobody  can  do 
his  best  work  if  he  understands  it  poorly,  if  he  must  make 
too  strong  an  effort  to  enter  into  the  necessary  responses. 
Moreover  we  saw  that  the  attention  can  never  be  held  at 
an  equal  level  for  a  long  time  and  that  fatigue  is  always 
disadvantageous.  Thus  an  alternation  between  sharp 
work  and  light  work,  between  work  and  recess,  becomes 
essential.  Too  long  working  hours,  uncomfortable  bodily 
positions,  must  decrease  the  efficiency  of  attention  in 
spite  of  the  worker's  best  will. 

o 

UBRARt 

IITAT??  TCACHEftS   COULE  -e 
aANTA    BARaARA.   ^ALiPO^vNlA 


102  Business  Psychology 

A  characteristic  demonstration  can  be  found  in  the 
statistical  tables  which  show  the  industrial  accidents, 
especially  in  relation  to  the  different  hours  of  the  day. 
The  accidents  may  be  called  to  a  large  extent  a  conse- 
quence of  diminished  attention.  The  workingman  can 
avoid  the  accident  if  his  attention  is  completely  adjusted 
to  the  external  conditions.  As  soon  as  his  attention 
begins  to  lag  he  becomes  liable  to  wrong  reactions  which 
bring  accidents  in  their  train.  Statistics  show  indeed 
that  the  largest  number  of  accidents  occurs  two  or  three 
hours  after  the  beginning  of  the  work  in  the  morning 
and  in  the  afternoon.  The  detailed  figures  leave  no 
doubt  that  the  workingman  needs  at  first  a  certain  time 
for  adjustment  of  his  attention,  then  reaches  a  good 
period  of  sharpest  attention  and  after  that  begins  to  get 
fatigued.  But  in  the  last  half  hour  before  the  end  of  the 
morning  or  afternoon  period  his  attention  is  once  more 
stirred  up  by  the  expectation  of  the  near  end.  This  same 
fluctuation  of  attention  in  long  waves  can  be  traced  with 
every  continuous  worker.  The  bookkeeper  in  the  office 
makes  in  the  third  hour  more  mistakes  than  in  the  sec- 
ond. It  is  needless  to  say  that  the  speed  of  the  work  is  a 
most  important  factor  among  the  conditions  which  deter- 
mine the  level  of  the  attention. 

While  fatigue  and  outer  disturbances  interfere  with 
the  achievement  of  attention  it  can  be  strengthened  not 
only  from  without  by  new,  intense  impressions  but  also 
from  within  by  secondary  motives,  such  as  hopes  and 
fears.  The  workingman  whose  attention  may  wander 
when  he  is  paid  by  the  day  will  hold  his  attention  more 
firmly  to  the  work  of  his  hands  if  he  is  paid  by  the  piece. 
He  is  not  to  be  blamed  for  his  apparent  carelessness  in 
the  first  case;  he  cannot  change  it.  He  lacks  a  motive 
which  whips  up  the  attention  at  every  moment.    We  shall 


Attention  103 

turn  to  these  problems  once  more  when  we  come  to  ques- 
tions of  actions  and  of  efficiency. 

So-Called  Monotont  in  Work 

In  popular  discussions  it  is  always  taken  for  granted 
that  a  chief  condition  of  the  undermining  of  attention  is 
the  uniformity  of  work.  If  a  man,  whether  he  is  working 
at  a  machine  or  at  a  ledger,  has  to  do  exactly  the  same 
thing  from  morning  till  night,  his  attention  must  be 
undermined;  it  must  require  an  extreme  amount  of 
effort  to  go  on  with  the  work.  The  usual  consequence 
drawn  is  that  the  work  itself  must  be  an  intolerable  bur- 
den and  that  the  monotony,  especially  of  our  modern 
industrial  functions,  is  a  source  of  hardship  and  suffering 
in  the  workingman's  life. 

We  are  here  concerned  with  the  other  aspect,  that  of 
attention.  The  psychologist  is  hardly  ready  to  endorse 
that  popular  view.  Certainly  change  is,  as  we  have  indi- 
cated, a  possible  condition  for  keeping  attention  alive. 
Every  new  impression  makes  an  appeal  to  our  mental 
system  and  pushes  us  to  that  action  which  carries  the 
attention  with  it.  But  every  new  impression  also,  of 
course,  finds  friction.  It  is  difficult  to  go  over  to  some- 
thing new.  Constant  change  means  constantly  new  effort 
which  exhausts  the  mental  energies.  Uniformity  of  work 
must  therefore  have  certain  decided  advantages  for  the 
attention. 

We  said  before  that  our  attention  is  naturally  most 
easily  held  by  that  which  is  familiar  to  us  because  then 
all  the  responses  necessary  are  prepared  beforehand. 
The  impression  passes  into  the  channels  of  the  right 
activity  and  finds  no  obstacles  in  its  way.  If  we  have  fre- 
quently gone  through  a  mental  or  physical  operation, 
every  fresh  repetition  finds  us  trained  and  completely 


104  Business  Psychology 

adjusted  to  it  and  as  the  action  can  easily  result  the 
impression  itself  remains  vivid  and  is  sure  of  our  atten- 
tion. The  mere  uniformity  is  therefore  in  itself  not 
dangerous  to  attention  and,  as  we  shall  see  later,  it 
depends  more  upon  individual  tendencies  whether  fre- 
quent change  or  continuity  of  uniform  work  is  more 
advisable  for  the  greatest  efficiency. 

Individual  Diffebences 

The  individual  differences  of  attention  are,  however, 
not  confined  to  a  tendency  for  continuity  or  change  nor 
have  we  a  right  to  speak  only  of  men  with  good  and  of 
men  with  bad  attention.  Different  personalities  may  be 
characterized  by  different  kinds  of  attention  which  are  all 
equally  good,  inasmuch  as  they  may  be  useful  for  differ- 
ent functions.  Some  persons  have  the  tendency  to  con- 
centrate their  attention  very  much,  while  others  are  more 
inclined  to  a  widely  expanded  attention.  Those  of  the 
first  type  will  do  their  best  only  if  they  are  engaged  in 
work  which  allows  a  complete  focusing  on  the  one  impres- 
sion or  activity  at  any  moment,  while  the  men  of  the 
other  type  may  render  the  best  service  when  they  super- 
vise many  things  at  the  same  time,  perhaps  divide  their 
attention  among  many  machines  or  have  a  large  mass  of 
business  details  to  which  to  attend.  Again  we  find  the 
differences  of  those  whose  attention  is  best  held  by  visual 
impressions,  those  whose  whole  mental  mechanism  is 
most  strongly  impressed  by  sounds,  and  those  who  are 
most  dependent  upon  movement  sensations  or  tactual 
impressions. 

Application  to  Selling 

The  interest  of  the  business  man  in  the  problem  of 
attention  is  not  confined  to  the  attention  of  the  commer- 


Attention  105 

cial  or  industrial  worker.  He  is  no  less  concerned  with 
the  attention  of  the  customer.  For  the  customer's  sake 
he  displays  his  goods  in  the  shop  window  and  in  the 
store;  he  advertises  his  wares  in  the  papers  and  maga- 
zines ;  he  gives  significant  packings  to  the  manufactured 
goods,  and  attaches  names  and  labels  to  his  products. 
But  every  display  and  advertisement  and  label  is  an 
appeal  to  the  attention  and  is  worth  while  only  if  it  suc- 
ceeds in  forcing  the  attention  in  the  desired  direction. 
To  be  sure,  it  would  be  very  rash  to  deduce  the  laws  of 
advertising  or  display  simply  from  the  facts  of  attention. 
A  shockingly  ugly  display  or  a  brutally  vulgar  advertise- 
ment would  draw  the  attention  of  the  passer-by  and  of 
the  casual  newspaper  reader  as  surely  and  quickly  as  a 
beautiful  and  harmonious  presentation ;  and  yet  it  would 
be  badly  chosen  for  its  purpose.  Other  mental  factors 
would  work  against  its  effectiveness.  We  shall  speak  of 
some  of  them  later. 

Many  conditions  for  effective  advertising  and  display- 
ing and  labeling  are  certainly  consequences  of  the  laws 
of  attention  which  we  have  mentioned.  The  surprisingly 
large  object  will  have  more  influence  in  attracting  the 
attention  of  the  customer  than  the  small;  the  full-page 
advertisement  more  than  the  quarter-page.  The  brilliant 
light  in  the  shop  window  will  be  more  effective  than  the 
faint;  the  unusual  type  or  arrangement  or  phrasing  of 
the  advertisement  will  force  the  mind  of  the  reader  into 
the  desired  channel;  the  multicolored  wrapping  or  the 
original  picture  on  the  outside  of  the  package  will  catch 
the  attention  in  the  store;  the  large  piles  of  the  same 
goods  will  hold  the  attention  where  the  eye  would  have 
swept  indifferently  over  a  few  specimens. 

Movements  and  sudden  changes  have  an  especially 
strong  control  over  the  attention.    The  quick  alternation 


106  Business  Psychology 

of  light  and  dark  in  the  electric  advertisements  which 
flash  out  suddenly  are  therefore  well  calculated  for  the 
fascination  of  attention,  and  those  which  involve  the 
illusion  of  movement  effects  are  especially  compelling. 
A  border  around  an  advertisement,  contrasting  colors  in 
a  poster,  a  catchy  name  for  a  patented  article,  may  give 
attention  value  to  the  most  indifferent  wares.  But  it  is 
not  only  the  impression  of  the  moment  which  is  decisive. 
The  advertiser  who  repeats  his  advertisement  in  the 
same  paper  for  a  long  while  not  only  hopes  to  reach  the 
attention  of  new  readers.  His  chief  appeal  is  to  the  old 
ones.  The  mind  which  was  reached  the  first  time  by  a 
good  advertisement  may  not  have  been  impressed  at  all. 
The  attention  is  not  focused  on  it  and  therefore  it  is  for- 
gotten as  quickly  as  the  eye  has  glanced  to  the  next  page. 
But  when  the  same  comes  a  second  time  it  finds  the  after- 
effects of  the  first.  A  certain  readiness  to  respond  is 
prepared,  the  vividness  of  the  impression  grows,  and, 
when  it  appeals  to  consciousness  for  the  third  time,  it  can 
reach  the  climax  of  effectiveness. 

Experimental  Intvestigations 

All  these  questions  of  advertising  and  labeling,  pack- 
ing and  displaying,  can  be  made  problems  of  exact 
experimental  investigation.  If  we  paste  simple  adver- 
tisements of  similar  kinds  in  a  book  so  that  each  quarter 
page  contains  one,  and  ten  persons  have  to  go  through 
that  book  so  that  they  devote  the  same  number  of  sec- 
onds to  every  object  and  immediately  after,  or  after  an 
hour,  or  after  a  day,  they  have  to  write  down  the  firm 
names  with  their  advertised  articles,  as  far  as  they 
remember  them,  the  experiment  shows  that  the  four 
quarters  of  the  page  do  not  have  equal  influence  on  the 
attention.    The  advertisements  on  the  upper  outer  quar- 


Attention  107 

ter  are  almost  twice  as  often  remembered  as  those  on 
the  lower  inner  quarter.  Every  detail  of  the  effect  of 
repetition  or  of  size  or  of  arrangement  of  the  advertise- 
ments can  thus  be  statistically  determined  and  the  value 
for  drawing  the  attention  be  calculated  beforehand. 

An  interesting  case,  for  instance,  is  furnished  by  the 
question  of  whether  it  is  better  to  have  advertisements 
mixed  with  reading  matter  or  not.  It  seems  natural  to 
expect  that  the  advertiser  will  profit  when  his  display 
finds  space  between  columns  of  text,  as  has  recently 
become  the  fashion  in  popular  magazines.  But  the 
experiment  shows  that  the  effect  on  the  attention  is 
greatly  diminished  when  the  advertisement  is  squeezed 
in  between  reading  matter.  We  saw  that  the  vividness 
of  the  impression  is  dependent  upon  the  response  which 
we  prepare.  As  soon  as  we  look  over  a  page  which 
awakes  the  attitude  of  reading,  we  are  mentally  not  pre- 
pared for  that  entirely  different  attitude  of  taking  in 
the  contents  of  advertisements.  The  one  reaction  inter- 
feres with  the  other,  and  the  result  is  that  the  announce- 
ments on  the  mixed  pages  leave  a  very  superficial 
impression. 

TEST  QUESTIONS 

1.  What  is  meant  by  attention!     Is  it  simply  an  awareness? 

2.  What  is  the  distinction  between  voluntary  and  involuntary 
attention  ? 

3.  What  are  the  four  attention  processes? 

4.  How  do  motives  influence  attention  ?    How  do  they  apply 
concretely  to  your  own  work  ? 

5.  How  does  attention  influence  one 's  activities  ?    What  prac- 
tical problems  does  this  suggest  for  the  shop  foreman? 

6.  How  may  attention  be  secured? 

7.  How  may  it  be  held  ? 


108  Business  Psychology 

8.  What  are  some  of  the  most  common  distracting  influences 
in  a  factory?  In  a  stenographers*  room!  Suggest  some  positive 
aids  to  attention  in  each. 

9.  What  is  the  relation  of  attention  to  industrial  accidents? 
To  monotony  in  wwkt 

10.  Are  you  of  the  concentrated  or  of  the  expanded  attention 
type?    What  kind  of  work  should  you  be  doing? 

11.  What  are  some  of  the  applicaticms  of  this  chapter  to 
selling?    To  advertising? 


CHAPTER  IX 
feeling  and  emotion 

Relation  to  Attention 

We  have  studied  the  process  of  attention  as  the  act  by 
which  the  mind  sifts  the  offerings  of  the  world.  Those 
contents  of  the  mind  are  attended  to  of  which  more 
clearness,  more  vividness,  more  detail,  more  knowledge  of 
consequences  are  needed.  Everything  else  becomes 
suppressed  and  inhibited.  But  we  must  go  farther  back. 
What  stands  behind  that  mechanism  which  makes  us  at- 
tend one  thing  and  disregard  another?  We  emphasized 
the  importance  of  actions.  We  attend  that  toward  which 
our  action  is  directed  and  suppress  that  which  would  de- 
mand the  opposite  action.  We  made  much  of  the  impor- 
tance of  our  preparedness  for  a  particular  action.  Yet 
we  have  left  out  the  ultimate  spring  in  our  mind  which 
is  most  effective  in  getting  our  action  and  through  the 
action  in  getting  our  attention,  namely,  our  feelings. 

The  Natube  of  Feeling 

We  may  at  first  take  the  word  in  its  widest  sense.  Then 
it  means  the  inner  states  in  which  we  become  aware  that 
an  experience  is  harmonious  or  disharmonious  with  our 
self.  If  it  is  harmonious  we  have  the  feeling  of  pleasant- 
ness, of  agreeableness,  of  satisfaction,  of  joy,  of  delight ; 
if  it  is  disharmonious  our  feeling  is  one  of  unpleasant- 
ness, of  disagreeableness,  of  pain,  of  sadness,  of  torture. 
We  may  add  at  once  a  characteristic  feature.    If  the  ex- 

109 


110  Business  Psychology 

perience  is  harmonious  with  our  self,  we  aim  toward  its 
continuation  or  its  strengthening  and  unfolding;  if  it  is 
disharmonious  we  try  to  break  it  up  or  at  least  to  reduce 
it. 

If  this  is  the  case,  we  recognize  at  once  the  relation  of 
feeling  and  attention.  Every  feeling  involves  an  action, 
this  very  action  to  make  the  experience  continue  or  dis- 
continue. And  we  see  that  everything  which  is  an  object 
of  our  action  becomes  from  this  fact  the  center  of  our  at- 
tention. Even  the  disagreeable  impression  of  which  we 
want  to  rid  ourselves  on  account  of  our  unpleasant  feel- 
ing forces  itself  on  our  attention  and  becomes  at  first 
more  vivid  because  we  concentrate  our  action  on  it  in 
order  to  destroy  it.  But  we  must  consider  the  situation 
in  more  detail,  as  surely  the  process  of  feeling  and  its 
more  complex  form  of  emotion  stands  in  the  center  of  our 
life,  and  not  least  in  the  center  of  business  life.  Whatever 
a  man's  place  in  practical  life  may  be  he  works  with  the 
aim  to  be  happy  and  to  enjoy  his  work  and  its  results 
and  to  eliminate  the  sources  of  dissatisfaction  and  un- 
happiness.  Nobody  buys  and  nobody  sells  but  for  the 
purpose  of  satisfying  his  feelings. 

The  Nature  op  Self 

We  said  every  feeling  is  the  awareness  of  harmony 
or  disharmony  of  an  experience  with  our  self.  Hence  we 
must  first  settle  the  question :  What  do  we  mean  by  our 
self  t  What  is  our  personality?  If  we  say  that  something 
is  agreeable  because  it  furthers  our  self,  and  something 
is  disagreeable  because  it  interferes  with  our  self,  we 
mean,  of  course,  that  self  which  we  find  in  our  inner  ex- 
perience. It  is  not  sufl&cient  to  characterize  it  by  name 
and  birthday.  We  must  grasp  the  essential  features  of 
the  self  which  we  find  in  our  consciousness.    It  seems  the 


Feeling  and  Emotion  111 

easiest  thing  in  the  world  to  say  what  we  ourselves  are, 
as  we  surely  cannot  know  anything  and  anyone  better 
than  our  self.  It  is  after  all  the  only  thing  in  the  universe 
to  which  we  have  immediate  access.  And  yet  it  is  ex- 
tremely difficult  to  determine  exactly  what  we  mean  by 
our  self. 

Surely  the  idea  of  our  own  personality  has  never  been 
handed  over  to  us  as  a  complete,  ready-made  possession. 
It  had  a  long  development.  The  infant  does  not  know 
anything  of  himself  as  a  personality.  He  plays  with  his 
own  feet  as  he  would  with  a  toy.  The  idea  of  one's  own 
personality  grows  slowly  from  the  sensations  which  the 
body  furnishes.  The  child  sees  and  hears  and  touches 
millions  of  things  and  among  these  impressions  are  those 
which  originate  from  his  own  organism.  He  has  the 
muscle  sensations  and  joint  sensations  from  his  arms  and 
fingers,  his  legs  and  his  trunk,  and  they  melt  together 
with  the  touch  sensations  of  his  skin  and  with  the  tem- 
perature sensations,  and  as  a  very  important  part  with 
the  occasional  pain  sensations,  hunger  and  thirst  sensa- 
tions, tickling  sensations,  and  many  others  which  are 
bound  up  with  the  processes  of  the  body. 

Development  of  Personalities 

All  these  sensations  cluster  together  and  form  a  group 
which  quickly  gains  central  importance.  First  of  all, 
that  group  always  remains  present.  Whatever  the  child 
may  see  and  hear,  however  often  he  may  change  his  sur- 
roundings, the  sensations  from  his  own  body  always  re- 
main at  the  center.  Moreover  the  child  perceives  that 
his  body  answers  his  wishes;  his  arms  and  his  legs  be- 
come the  instruments  for  the  fulfillments  of  his  desires. 
The  position  and  the  behavior  of  his  body  decide  which 
things  he  will  see  or  hear  or  touch.    If  he  opens  or  closes 


112  Business  Psychology 

his  eyes,  if  he  tnms  his  head  to  the  right  or  to  the  left, 
if  he  touches  things  with  his  fingers,  more  and  more  new 
objects  enter  his  experience.  Finally  only  his  body  is 
the  source  of  pain  sensations.  If  the  chair  tumbles 
down,  he  perceives  it  but  it  does  not  hurt,  but  if  he  him- 
self falls  he  not  only  perceives  it  but  he  feels  the  pain. 
All  these  factors  combine  in  the  result  that  the  idea  of 
one's  own  body  becomes  the  central  group  of  impres- 
sions and  the  most  important  of  all  which  the  world 
awakes  in  the  mind. 

In  this  simplest  and  lowest  form  the  personality  is  the 
one  body  which  is  the  cause  of  our  impressions  and  the 
means  of  our  actions.  But  this  idea  of  personality  quick- 
ly spreads  in  many  directions.  We  said  the  body  is  re- 
sponsible for  the  impressions  of  the  individual.  If  the 
bodily  eyes  are  closed,  no  visual  impressions  come  to  the 
mind.  It  is  only  a  natural  step,  therefore,  to  consider 
all  these  impressions  and  ideas  of  the  world  as  belonging 
to  the  body.  Our  personality  is  then  not  only  our  body 
but  our  body  together  with  the  perceptions  and  ideas  in  it. 
On  the  other  side  the  body  was  the  acting  instrument. 
But  again  this  action  is  controlled  by  the  will-impulses. 
Hence  the  personality  must  be  not  only  the  acting  body 
but  again  the  acting  body  together  with  the  will  which 
starts  the  movements.  The  outcome  is  a  richer  idea  of 
the  personality  than  the  child  can  really  reach.  On  this 
level  our  self  is  our  body,  together  with  our  ideas  and 
our  volitions  which  are  going  on  in  our  body. 

As  soon  as  the  personality  idea  has  reached  this  stage, 
it  can  easily  pass  through  a  number  of  changes  in  various 
directions.  The  one  is  an  enlargement.  If  the  person- 
ality includes  everything  by  which  our  relation  to  the 
world  is  determined,  then  we  must  allow  room  for  a  social 
expansion.    Our  pockethook  is  then  a  part  of  our  per- 


Feeling  and  Emotion  113 

sonality,  and  so  is  our  name  and  onr  position  and  the 
whole  system  of  connections  with  family  and  society. 
Whatever  is  in  our  service  and  helps  us  to  release  our 
volitions  then  belongs  to  our  personality  in  the  widest 
sense.    This  represents  our  social  personality. 

On  the  other  hand  we  might  concentrate  the  idea  of  our 
personality  so  that  only  the  essentials  are  included.  In 
that  case  it  is  evident  that  not  our  whole  body  is  needed. 
We  do  not  lose  a  part  of  our  personality  if  our  hair  is 
cut.  Not  even  our  arms  and  our  legs  are  our  real  per- 
sonality. The  truly  essential  part  is  our  brain  with  the 
content  of  our  mind.  Thus  we  develop  a  mental  person- 
ality as  against  the  social  personality.  Even  here  in  this 
content  of  the  mind  we  can  draw  the  line  more  or  less 
narrowly.  In  this  mental  personality  the  chance  knowl- 
edge is  not  really  significant.  We  do  not  lose  our  self 
when  we  lose  the  memory  of  some  of  the  names  and  dates 
which  we  learned  in  school.  Just  as  we  do  not  give  up 
a  part  of  our  personality  when  we  cut  our  finger  nails, 
we  do  not  lose  a  part  of  our  mental  personality  if  we  for- 
get the  time-table  which  we  knew  by  heart  last  year.  The 
central  group  of  mental  functions,  those  which  we  usually 
call  the  character  and  the  intelligence  and  the  tempera- 
ment, the  chief  dispositions  to  act  and  to  think,  then 
remain  as  the  true  personality. 

Many  Peksonauties  ik  the  Self 

From  this  narrowest  idea  of  the  self  as  the  center  of 
thought  and  action  to  the  widest  idea  of  the  self  as  social 
personality  is  a  long  distance,  with  numberless  steps. 
The  idea  of  our  self  is  constantly  changing.  At  one 
moment  we  think  of  our  self  as  a  moral  personality  for 
which  the  character  is  everything  and  the  physical  body 
something  external  over  which  we  have  control,  and  at 


114  Business  Psychology 

the  next  moment  we  think  of  our  self  as  just  such  a 
physical  body.  And  again  in  the  next  instant  we  think 
of  our  self  as  a  social  personality  in  the  midst  of  social 
surroundings.  Every  situation  must  demand  a  special 
sorting  of  the  elements  which  we  include  in  our  person- 
ality idea.  The  more  we  emphasize  the  mental  side  and 
the  social  side,  the  more  our  personality  idea  must 
change  under  the  different  conditions.  Our  body  remains 
the  same ;  and  yet  we  feel  our  self  as  a  different  person- 
ality in  our  office  and  in  the  club,  at  our  breakfast  table 
and  in  the  theatre,  in  church  and  in  the  political  meeting. 

In  every  one  of  these  situations  new  groups  of  mental 
contents  and  of  social  relations  are  in  the  foreground. 
Our  self  is  really  a  different  one,  because  the  constant 
element,  the  physical  body,  appears  unimportant  in  such 
situations,  and  the  mental  elements  which  are  decisive 
are  entirely  different  ones  every  time.  Of  course  we  can 
secure  the  consciousness  of  unity  by  our  memories.  The 
man  who  sits  at  his  desk  in  the  morning  filled  with  the 
thought  of  the  business  affairs  of  the  day  knows  that 
he  is  the  same  personality  who  the  night  before  was  in 
the  dancing  hall  with  no  other  thoughts  but  flirtation 
and  enjoyment  of  the  waltz.  The  intellectual  and  social 
self-consciousness  was  entirely  different  in  the  two 
surroundings  and  their  behavior  accordingly  had  also 
little  similarity.  Yet  the  memory-ideas  bind  them  to- 
gether. 

In  rare  cases  of  disease  we  find  that  these  memory 
connections  are  destroyed.  Then  a  person  loses  the  con- 
sciousness of  identity  with  the  earlier  personality.  The 
physician  calls  it  a  hysterical  splitting  of  the  personality. 
Sometimes  one  personality  exists  alternatingly  with 
another,  and  neither  can  remember  the  other.  But  in 
normal  life,  however  many  phases  and  variations  of  per- 


Feeling  and  Emotion  115 

sonality  a  self  may  pass  through,  they  all  are  bound 
together  by  a  distinct  remembering,  and  the  result  is  the 
unity  of  personality  throughout  the  development. 

But  if  we  have  many  kinds  of  personalities  in  us  from 
the  spiritual  to  the  organic  and  from  the  organic  to  the 
social,  the  question  as  to  what  is  in  harmony  or  in  dis- 
harmony with  the  personality  must  also  take  manifold 
character.  Then  the  contrasting  feelings  of  satisfaction 
and  dissatisfaction  must  result  when  any  of  these  many 
varieties  of  personality  becomes  furthered  or  hindered. 
The  displeasure  of  a  moral  pang  seems  at  first  not  to 
have  anything  in  common  with  the  dislike  of  a  foul  smell 
or  with  the  indignation  over  a  social  affront.  But  they 
all  are  cases  of  an  interference  with  the  personalities, 
only  personalities  of  very  different  order.   ' 

Laws  of  Feeling 

The  most  elementary  feelings  result  from  a  simple 
stimulus  agreeing  or  disagreeing  with  the  bodily  con- 
ditions of  the  organism.  The  body  reacts  directly.  That 
which  agrees  finds  in  the  body  a  response  which  works 
toward  the  continuation  and  that  which  disagrees  stirs 
up  the  opposite  reactions  which  break  off  the  stimulus. 
The  accompanying  mental  state  with  which  the  impulse 
starts  is  the  pleasure  or  displeasure.  But  if  the  deciding 
factor  is  the  agreement  or  non-agreement  with  the  condi- 
tions of  the  body,  it  is  evident  that  the  pleasure  or 
displeasure  depends  not  only  upon  the  character  of  the 
impression  but  still  more  upon  the  state  of  the  organic 
self.  Food  which  tastes  delicious  when  we  are  hungry 
would  be  indifferent  when  we  are  satiated  and  would  taste 
intolerable  when  we  are  seasick.  But  while  it  is  true  that 
even  these  simplest  feelings  depend  upon  our  own  status 
and  change  with  the  conditions  in  ourselves,  we  surely 


116  Business  Psychology 

mnst  not  believe  that  this  means  absence  of  definite  laws 
for  the  realm  of  these  simplest  feelings.  They  are  not 
arising  by  chance  or  in  a  whimsical  way.  The  world  of 
feelings  has  its  regularities  and  its  laws  as  well  as  the 
world  of  impressions. 

Broadly  speaking,  every  stimulus  is  pleasant  in  moder- 
ate strength  and  becomes  unpleasant  in  great  strength, 
and  between  those  two  is  a  certain  region  of  indifference 
or  a  region  in  which  pleasantness  and  unpleasantness 
overlap.  The  feelings  which  are  attached  to  the  lower 
senses,  touch,  temperature,  smell,  taste,  muscle  sensa- 
tions, organic  sensations,  are  more  intense  than  those 
connected  with  the  higher  sensations  of  eye  and  ear. 
Those  lower  senses  have  more  immediate  influence  on  the 
body,  while  the  sounds  and  colors  become  influential  on 
us  less  as  single  elements  than  as  parts  of  complex  ob- 
jects which  do  not  interest  our  bodily  personality  but 
which  appeal  to  our  higher  self.  Anything  too  cold  or  too 
hot,  anything  too  salty,  or  anything  with  a  smell  of  decay 
has  an  immediate  importance  for  our  body.  It  interferes 
with  the  existence  of  the  bodily  personality,  awakes  an 
immediate  reaction  toward  stopping  that  dangerous 
stimulus,  and  is  therefore  distinctly  unpleasant.  But  a 
disturbing  tone  or  color  may  to  a  certain  degree  interfere 
with  our  bodily  welfare  too,  may  irritate  or  disturb  the 
eye  or  ear,  and  yet  their  bodily  effect  is  small  as  long  as 
the  light  is  not  blinding  or  the  sound  deafening. 

The  color  and  the  sound,  on  the  other  hand,  may  be- 
come tremendously  important  if  they  are  parts  of  a  social 
scene  which  we  witness  or  of  a  spoken  sentence.  What 
we  see  and  hear  may  then  hurt  us  more  than  any  smell  or 
taste  could  hurt  us.  But  it  does  not  hurt  the  bodily  per- 
sonality; it  strikes  on  the  mental  personality,  on  the 
intellectual  or  the  moral  self,  which  reacts  to  stop  not 


Feeling  and  Emotion  117 

that  particular  color  or  tone  but  the  whole  scene  of  which 
they  are  a  part. 

Feelings  Affecting  Physical  Well-being 

The  strongest  reactions  and  accordingly  the  most  in- 
tense feelings  are  attached  to  those  influences  on  the  body 
which  directly  destroy  the  bodily  substance.  They  are  the 
sources  of  pain.  Every  pain  sensation  indicates  a  real 
harm  to  the  organic  substance,  and  the  resulting  intense 
dislike  is  the  great  warning  signal  with  which  nature 
provides  the  human  mind.  Pain  is,  accordingly,  the  most 
useful  element  of  human  consciousness.  If  the  suffering 
of  pain  were  taken  away,  man  *s  body  would  be  endlessly 
more  threatened  than  at  present,  inasmuch  as  the  body 
itself  takes  care  by  its  mental  physical  reactions  to  sup- 
press at  once  the  source  of  the  destructive  influence. 

The  organic  sensations  which  lack  of  food,  lack  of 
liquid,  lack  of  fresh  air,  lack  of  normal  temperature, 
awake  in  the  mind  are  in  a  similar  way  coupled  with 
strong  efforts  to  overcome  the  disturbance.  Hunger, 
thirst,  and  so  on  are  linked  with  strong  feelings.  The 
strongest  contrast  to  pain  is  the  lust  sensation  which  is 
connected  with  the  activity  of  the  sexual  glands.  It  is  not 
the  body  itself  which  is  here  furthered  through  the 
organic  process,  but  the  race  which  is  continued  by  the 
sexual  function.  There  the  individual  personality  serves 
as  instrument  of  the  race  and  feels  the  strongest  pleasure 
in  the  act  which  is  devoted  to  the  creation  of  progeny. 
But  the  satisfaction  of  the  desire  for  food  and  liquid  or 
the  healthful,  comfortable  warmth  produces  positive  sen- 
sations which  are  pleasant  because  the  stimulus  directly 
furthers  the  interests  of  the  body.  The  same  may  be  said 
about  the  pleasure  in  the  moderate  activities  of  walking, 
running,  swimming,  and  so  on. 


118  Business  Psychology 

The  feeling-dLfferences  of  the  light  and  sound  sensa- 
tions as  isolated  impressions  are  relatively  small.  Exact 
experiments  can  easily  show,  nevertheless,  that  such  dif- 
ferences exist.  The  saturated  colors,  for  instance,  are 
more  pleasing  than  the  whitish  or  dull  ones,  the  unsatur- 
ated ones.  The  tones  with  low  overtones  are  more  pleas- 
ing than  those  with  very  high  overtones.  True  richness 
of  feelings  connected  with  sight  and  sound  begins  when 
we  turn  to  the  combinations.  Two  colors  each  of  which 
is  pleasing  may  give  a  combination  which  is  utterly  un- 
pleasing ;  two  tones  each  of  which  gives  a  sonorous  agree- 
able sound  may  be  utterly  disagreeable  when  they  are 
played  together.  In  the  field  of  color  we  find  that  the 
most  pleasing  effects  produced  are  combinations  of  com- 
plementary colors,  yellow  with  blue,  red  with  green, 
orange  with  violet,  and  so  on.  In  the  field  of  sound  we 
have  agreeable  effects  when  the  tones  stand  in  musical 
relations,  that  is,  if  the  relationship  of  their  number  of 
vibrations  can  be  expressed  in  small  figures,  as  one  to 
two,  or  two  to  three,  or  three  to  four,  or  three  to  five,  or 
four  to  five,  or  five  to  six,  which  correspond  to  the  chief 
musical  intervals. 

If  the  combinations  are  in  space  and  time,  we  come  to 
forms  or  rhythms  which  command  not  less  distinct  feel- 
ing reactions.  A  regular  repetition  of  accented  sounds, 
such  as  the  rhythm  offered  in  music  or  in  poetry,  a 
symmetrical  arrangement  of  lights,  a  well-balanced 
grouping  of  forms  essential  in  painting  or  arts  and  crafts 
or  architecture,  awake  strong  pleasure,  while  any  neglect 
of  such  an  orderly  arrangement  displeases  us. 

Here  we  can  no  longer  speak  of  direct  furtherance  or 
disturbance  of  the  body.  It  is  a  more  complex  personal- 
ity which  feels  in  harmony  with  the  regular  grouping  of 
the  impressions  and  in  disharmony  with  the  disorderly 


Feeling  and  Emotion  119 

gronping.  Yet  it  is  not  without  intimate  relation  to  our 
bodily  existence.  We  like  a  symmetrical  arrangement 
to  the  right  and  left  which  balances  simply  because  it 
harmonizes  with  our  bodily  structure.  That  which  is 
equally  developed  on  the  right  and  on  the  left  side  awakes 
in  us  impulses  and  imitative  reactions  which  correspond 
to  the  needs  of  our  own  balance.  If  one  side  of  a  picture 
were  strongly  developed  and  the  other  not  it  would  force 
on  us  the  feeling  of  tumbling  over  to  one  side.  We  should 
feel  it  as  in  disharmony  with  the  conditions  of  our  own 
equilibrium. 

We  never  demand  that  the  upper  half  of  a  picture  cor- 
respond to  the  lower  because  in  our  bodily  self  the  func- 
tions of  our  upper  half  are  entirely  different  from  those 
of  the  lower.  We  demand  stability  for  the  lower  and 
freedom  of  movement  for  the  upper  half.  Symmetry  be- 
tween the  upper  and  lower  parts  would  be  directly  dis- 
harmonious with  the  conditions  of  our  own  life.  But  we 
do  demand  indeed  that  the  right  and  the  left  balance. 
This,  of  course,  does  not  mean  that  in  a  picture  the  right 
and  the  left  half  must  be  strictly  symmetrical.  We  need 
only  an  equality  of  impulses.  In  a  poster  a  large  figure 
on  the  one  side  may  very  well  be  balanced  by  a  wide  vista 
or  a  heavily  printed  description  of  the  article  on  the  other 
side.  Each  would  give  equally  strong  impulses  to  activ- 
ity, would  bring  both  sides  of  our  personahty  equally  into 
action  and  would  therefore  be  felt  as  pleasing,  while  the 
figure  and  inscription  both  on  the  same  side  would  con- 
tradict the  needs  of  our  organic  personality. 

The  rhythmical  grouping,  too,  corresponds  to  our  im- 
mediate organic  needs.  Every  accent  demands  a  certain 
tension  in  our  responses,  which  is  followed  by  relaxation. 
If  the  accents  follow  one  another  irregularly,  the  bodily 
impulses  become  irritating  and  interfere  with  one  an- 


V20  Business  Psychology 

vother.  Our  whole  organism  enters  into  a  state  of  unrest 
which  disturbs  our  normal  breathing  and  all  the  other 
regular  functions.  We  cannot  adjust  ourselves  and  feel 
it  as  most  unpleasant.  From  these  simple  starting  points 
we  can  go  to  richer  and  richer  aesthetic  experiences  in 
space  and  time,  in  color  and  sound  and  touch,  and  we  find 
overTwhere  conditions  of  the  organic  personality  essen- 
tial for  our  aesthetic  appreciation. 

Complexity  and  Variety  of  Feelings 

But  the  more  we  come  to  complex  conditions,  the  more 
associations,  ideas,  memories,  and  thoughts  enter  into  the 
pleasant  or  unpleasant  experiences.  They  no  longer  refer 
to  the  bodily  personality.  It  is  the  intellectual  and  voli- 
tional self  which  comes  into  the  foreground  with  them. 
But  the  principles  remain  the  same.  The  amount  of 
pleasure  depends  upon  the  degree  with  which  the  ideas 
harmonize  and  agree  with  the  various  parts  of  the  per- 
sonality. To  see  an  old  friend  again,  or  to  get  a  raise  in 
salary,  or  to  be  successful  in  the  discovery  of  an  improve- 
ment in  the  shop,  or  to  break  the  routine  office  work  by  an 
outing  to  the  country,  is  a  pleasure,  but  it  has  nothing  to 
do  with  the  bodily  self.  Each  such  experience  harmo- 
nizes with  the  whole  mental  personality.  In  a  correspond- 
ing way  the  news  of  the  illness  of  a  friend,  ar  the  loss  of 
money,  or  a  failure  in  an  application  for  a  position,  or  a 
disappointment  in  a  speculation,  is  a  source  of  dis- 
pleasure. 

Each  of  these  experiences  interferes  with  the  per- 
sonality ;  and  yet  again  not  the  bodily  but  only  the  mental 
and  social  personality  is  involved.  The  fundamental  con- 
trast between  the  pleasure  and  the  displeasure  is  the 
same  as  in  the  bodily  realm.  The  difference  between  the 
pleasure  in  a  financial  gain  and  the  displeasure  in  a  loss 


Feelmg  and  Emotion  121 

is  the  same  as  the  difference  between  the  pleasure  in  a 
good  taste  and  the  displeasure  in  a  bad  taste.  The  agree- 
able is  always  that  experience  which  the  self  accepts  as 
harmonious  and  the  continuation  of  which  it  welcomes, 
while  the  disagreeable  is  that  intrusion  which  the  self 
rejects.  Yet  while  this  fundamental  difference  of  the 
contrast  between  welcoming  and  rejecting  is  the  same 
for  the  whole  world  of  feelings,  each  particular  set  gives 
its  special  traits  to  the  feeling.  We  have  therefore  a  per- 
fect right  to  say,  as  is  often  said,  that  there  exist  only  two 
feelings,  pleasure  and  displeasure,  and  yet  we  may  with 
the  same  justice  claim  that  there  are  numberless  feelings. 
The  pleasure  in  a  color  is  not  the  same  as  the  pleasure  in 
a  tone,  and  neither  are  the  same  as  the  pleasure  in  a 
friendly  word  or  the  pleasure  in  a  successful  sale  or  the 
pleasure  in  a  great  invention. 

If  we  consider  that  every  pleasure  or  displeasure  in- 
volves the  release  of  those  actions  by  which  the  con- 
tinuing or  the  stopping  of  the  experience  is  attempted, 
we  can  well  understand  that  the  great  variety  of  neces- 
sary actions  for  this  purpose  must  give  numberless 
shades  to  our  feelings.  If  something  approaches  me  and 
I  foresee  an  interference,  the  unpleasantness  of  the  con- 
tact may  lead  me  to  avoid  the  disagreeable  result,  but  I 
may  do  this  by  attacking  the  object  with  the  aim  of  de- 
stroying it  or  J  may  do  it  by  running  away  in  the  hope  of 
escaping  it.  The  displeasure  which  breaks  out  into  move- 
ments of  attack  and  the  displeasure  which  leads  to  flight 
may  be  characterized  by  the  same  impulse  to  avoid  the 
object;  and  yet  the  total  difference  of  the  actions  which 
are  to  serve  the  effect  must  give  entirely  different  experi- 
ences to  the  mind. 

In  a  very  similar  way  I  may  proceed  to  secure  the 
continuation  of  the  pleasant  contact  either  by  actively 


122  Business  Psychology 

approaching  the  welcome  source  or  by  passively  giving 
myself  over  to  its  influence.  Even  in  the  simplest  cases 
where  the  relation  to  the  self  is  one  to  the  bodily  per- 
sonality the  reaction  may  be  sufficiently  different  to  bring 
great  variety  into  the  feelings  themselves.  The  dis- 
pleasure in  a  slight  toothache  and  in  a  slight  headache 
may  have  much  similarity,  but  the  displeasure  in  the 
headache  is  very  different  from  that  in  a  foul  smell,  how- 
ever disagreeable  both  may  be,  because  the  impulse  to- 
ward the  two  sources  of  discomfort  must  be  so  unlike. 

As  soon  as  we  come  to  the  more  complex  influences 
where  not  a  helpful  or  dangerous,  comfortable  or  disturb- 
ing, physical  thing  is  present,  but  where  the  source  of 
the  feeling  is  a  scene  or  a  word,  a  situation  or  a  piece  of 
news,  the  reactions  must  become  still  richer  in  variety. 
The  reactions  to  an  insulting  word  and  to  the  news  of 
the  ticker  that  our  stocks  are  going  down  are  entirely 
different,  however  equally  unpleasant  the  impressions 
may  be.  The  affront  wounds  our  social  personality  with 
its  ideas  of  justice  and  of  respect  which  we  expect  from 
our  neighbors.  The  other  interferes  with  that  entirely 
different  social  personality  which  is  composed  of  our 
plans  to  secure  our  wishes  by  financial  means  or  to  safe- 
guard our  future. 

But  as  soon  as  we  undertake  to  consider  these  com- 
plex cases  we  must  at  once  be  aware  that  many  other  con- 
ditions for  a  rich  variety  are  given.  Some  experiences 
demand  a  quick  reaction,  others  a  slow  reaction  j  some 
are  instantaneous,  others  refer  to  more  or  less  lasting 
circumstances;  some  contain  all  essential  elements  in 
themselves,  and  others  awake  large  masses  of  memories 
and  expectations.  Some  turn  the  mind  toward  the  past, 
others  to  the  present,  and  again  others  to  the  future; 
some  refer  to  lifeless  nature,  and  others  to  our  social 


The  kymograph  is  an  instrument  used  to  represent  graphically  certain 
facts  and  conditions  which  have  a  bearing  upon  mental  life.  The  kymograph 
in  the  center  of  the  table  has  for  its  chief  part  a  revolving  cylinder  covered 
with  smoked  paper.  The  various  levers  which  are  in  contact  with  it  make 
a  graphic  record  of  their  up  and  down  movements.  The  cylinder  shows  a 
number  of  such  white  lines  written  by  the  levers. 

These  levers  are  moved  by  the  pressure  of  air  in  little  air  boxes  which 
are  in  connection  with  rubber  tubes.  As  soon  as  air  is  pressed  into  the 
rubber  tubes,  the  levers  move. 

The  experiment  shows  one  such  rubber  tube  connected  with  the  chest  of 
the  experimenter.  A  pneumograph  is  adjusted  to  his  chest  by  which  every 
act  of  respiration  changes  the  air  pressure.  At  the  same  time  a  sphygomo- 
graph  is  attached  to  his  left  wrist.  The  beating  of  the  pulse  produces  in  it 
similar  air  movements.  Both  pulse  and  breathing  are  studied  in  this  experi- 
ment in  their  dependence  upon  mental  acts. 


Feeling  and  Emotion  123 

companions,  and  again  others  to  ourselves  and  our  deeds. 
We  can  have  the  feeling  of  enjoyment  in  contact  with 
nature,  hut  the  feeling  of  gratitude  only  in  contact  with 
human  beings.  We  can  have  regret  only  with  regard  to 
the  past,  and  hope  and  fear  only  with  regard  to  the  fu- 
ture. We  may  even  have  complex  feelings  in  which  we 
include  the  feelings  of  others.  Our  envy  is  our  displeas- 
ure in  the  pleasure  of  others ;  our  malice  is  our  pleasure 
in  the  displeasure  of  our  neighbors. 

Organic  Response  to  Feelings 

The  experience  of  pleasure  and  displeasure  from  the 
harmony  or  disharmony  with  our  self  varies,  however, 
not  only  in  the  manifold  contents  of  the  situation  and  the 
immediate  action  by  which  we  prepare  the  going  on  or 
ending  of  the  event.  Another  very  important  source  of 
variations  exists  in  the  accompanying  responses  of  our 
organism.  The  broker's  feeling  of  joy  in  discovering  the 
sudden  rise  of  his  stocks  is  not  characterized  only  by  the 
welcoming  attitude  of  his  self,  but  at  the  same  time  his 
heart  begins  to  beat  more  strongly  and  quickly,  his 
breathing  changes,  his  face  becomes  flushed,  his  move- 
ments become  more  rapid  and  more  elastic.  If  instead 
the  stocks  had  gone  down,  he  would  have  become  pale, 
his  movements  would  have  become  weak,  his  whole  body 
would  have  lost  energy,  perhaps  even  tears  would  have 
entered  his  eyes.  Almost  every  feeling,  especially  a 
strong  one,  has  characteristic  accompaniments  in  the 
bodily  sphere,  and  these  accompanying  processes  neces- 
sarily become  the  sources  of  sensations  which  form  a 
background  for  the  feeling  in  consciousness. 

The  flushing  face  in  which  the  blood  vessels  are  dilated 
and  the  pale  face  in  which  the  blood  vessels  are  con- 
tracted give  a  different  kind  of  feeling.     The  strong 


124  Business  Psychology 

tension  of  the  muscles  or  that  disheartened  relaxation  of 
the  muscles  gives  an  entirely  different  sensation  which 
shades  the  whole  feeling  of  personality.  Laughing  and 
crying  and  trembling,  doubling  the  fist  and  gritting  the 
teeth,  and  many  similar  physiological  processes  enter 
into  the  experience.  The  inner  organs  too  are  affected. 
Distress  and  worry  ruin  the  appetite;  the  stomach  does 
not  produce  its  normal  secretions ;  even  the  saliva  glands 
do  not  work.  Other  feelings  produce  an  abnormal  activ- 
ity of  the  kidneys  or  of  the  liver.  In  short,  the  whole 
organism  reverberates  when  strong  furtherances  or  inter- 
ferences with  the  personality  become  effective.  They 
have  their  indirect  influences  on  the  whole  rhythm  of 
mental  behavior.  In  a  state  of  grief  and  depression  the 
associations  are  inhibited;  no  new  ideas  enter  the  mind. 
In  a  state  of  exaltation  and  inspiration  and  great  enjoy- 
ment the  ideas  rush  freely  to  consciousness. 

Natuke  op  Emotions 

Only  when  the  feelings  are  accompanied  by  such  bodily 
changes  and  their  effects  on  the  mind  are  we  accustomed 
to  speak  of  emotions.  Thus  in  the  center  of  every  emo- 
tion we  have  a  satisfaction  or  a  dissatisfaction,  but  this 
core  of  feeling  is  surrounded  by  an  abundance  of  other 
elements  which  give  character  to  the  subjective  state. 

Some  acts  and  bodily  expressions  may  be  the  inherit- 
ance of  old  racial  experiences,  some  are  probably  only  an 
overflow  of  excitement  or  the  result  of  a  stopping  of 
normal  excitement.  But  there  is  one  aspect  of  these 
emotions  which  is  extremely  important.  The  value  of  the 
emotion  as  against  the  simple  feeling  lies  in  the  fact  that 
through  this  participation  of  the  whole  body  the  per- 
sonality is  concentrated  on  the  one  line  of  action.  The 
interests  and  the  attention  of  the  self  become  focused  on 


Feeling  and  Emotion  125 

the  one  center  of  emotion.  Everything  else  which  was 
going  on  in  our  mind  is  swept  away.  The  thousand  little 
thoughts  and  cares  which  were  with  us  are  forgotten ;  the 
one  great  source  of  enthusiasm  or  of  anger  holds  our 
whole  mind  and  presses  all  our  resources  into  the  service 
of  the  one  great  act  toward  the  goal  which  awakes  our 
enthusiastic  response,  or  into  the  fight  against  the  op- 
ponent who  made  us  angry.  The  emotion  is  thus  the 
useful  means  of  re-enforcing  the  feeling -appeal.  The 
source  of  the  feeling  is  no  longer  a  mere  chance  experi- 
ence which  allows  many  other  experiences  besides,  but  it 
takes  hold  of  our  total  personality  and  releases  thereby 
energies  which  would  not  be  awakened  by  an  ordinary 
feeling.  The  emotion  is  the  great  appeal  which  mobilizes 
all  our  energies. 

Aesthetic  Feemngs 

We  may  give  attention  still  to  only  one  group  of  feel- 
ings, the  aesthetic  feelings  with  which  the  beautiful  ob- 
ject impresses  us.  "We  ought  rather  to  say  that  we  call 
beautiful  the  object  which  awakes  in  us  aesthetic  feeling. 
What  are  its  characteristics?  Surely  it  is  a  feeling  of 
pleasure.  Yet  the  beautiful  is  more  than  the  merely 
agreeable.  In  an  essential  way  it  is  even  its  opposite, 
because  the  agreeable  is  that  which  we  want  to  make  use 
of;  we  want  to  eat  the  agreeable  food.  The  truly  beau- 
tiful, in  the  higher  sense  of  the  word,  inhibits  in  us  the 
impulse  to  possess  the  object.  We  want  to  enjoy  the 
sight  of  it,  but  we  do  not  want  the  object  itself.  We  do 
not  embrace  the  beautiful  statue  of  Venus;  we  have  no 
appetite  for  the  painted  fruit.  True  art  must  so  show  us 
everything  that  we  are  unwilling  to  act  toward  it.  It  is 
a  pleasure  in  which  the  impulse  to  action  is  completely 
suppressed.    We  do  not  want  to  sit  down  with  the  people 


126  Business  Psychology 

on  the  stage ;  that  drama  is  closed  in  itself  and  we  do  not 
want  to  mix  in.  We  enjoy  the  comedy,  but  we  do  not 
participate  in  the  joy  of  the  persons  in  the  play.  Nor  do 
we  hate  the  villain  in  the  melodrama.  The  beautiful  ob- 
ject is  thus  detached  from  our  personal  desires,  while 
every  merely  pleasant  object  is  the  goal  of  our  personal 
wishes. 

This  must,  of  course,  not  be  confused  with  our  desire 
to  possess,  for  instance,  a  beautiful  painting  or  statue. 
The  artistic  work  which  we  possess  is  a  piece  of  canvas 
with  oil  color  or  a  piece  of  marble.  They  have,  as  such, 
only  economic  value,  and  the  pleasure  which  we  gain  from 
their  possession  is  not  the  pleasure  which  we  gain  from 
their  beauty.  We  desire  the  picture  because  we  want  to 
have  it  on  our  wall  in  order  to  enjoy  its  beauty  whenever 
we  wish.  But  this  enjoying  of  the  beauty  is  a  pleasure 
which  excludes  any  desire  for  the  subject  of  the  picture. 

The  aesthetic  emotion  which  detaches  us  from  the 
source  of  our  happiness  and  brings  our  practical  actions 
to  rest,  accordingly,  plays  a  role  of  its  own,  different  from 
all  the  other  feelings  of  happiness  and  joy  which  are 
based  on  personal  interests.  We  said  that  every  pleas- 
ure results  from  the  harmony  of  the  object  with  the  per- 
sonality. This  pleasure  is  not  selfish ;  a  higher  spiritual 
personality  is  involved  which  is  common  to  everyone 
who  grasps  the  ideals  of  beauty.  Every  other  kind  of 
pleasantness  is  dependent  upon  the  chance  conditions  of 
the  personality;  one  likes  cigars  and  another  does  not; 
one  enjoys  sweets  and  another  hates  them.  But  beauty 
is  enjoyable  for  everyone  who  possesses  an  aesthetic  per- 
sonality at  all.  Yet  the  beautiful  is  not  the  only  experi- 
ence which  satisfies  the  ideal  personality.  We  must 
couple  with  it  the  true  and  the  moral.  Truth  and  moral- 
ity bring  satisfaction  too.    Yet  again  it  is  not  an  indi- 


Feeling  and  Emotion  127 

vidiial  personality  which  profits  from  them  and  enjoys 
them.  There  is  no  personal,  selfish  interest  felt  when 
we  enjoy  a  noble,  moral  deed.  Our  spiritual  personality 
is  satisfied. 

Everything  which  brings  pleasure  and  is  thus  in  har- 
mony with  the  personality  is  for  that  personality  a  value. 
Those  sources  of  pleasure  which  appeal  to  the  spiritual 
personality,  the  beautiful,  the  true,  the  moral,  are  the 
ideal  values,  or,  as  we  may  also  call  them,  the  eternal 
values,  since  they  are  independent  of  the  chance  condi- 
tions in  time.  The  knowledge  which  is  really  true  must 
be  true  forever  and  for  everybody.  All  the  other  values 
refer  to  the  particular  personalities.  The  satisfaction 
which  they  bring  is  limited.  The  values  which  are  de- 
pendent upon  the  special  personalities  which  receive 
them  are  the  goods.  The  business  man  has  to  do  with 
these  goods  only.  He  furnishes  the  world  and  distributes 
in  the  world  the  objects  which  are  in  harmony  with  the 
needs  of  the  personalities. 

The  physical  personality,  the  mental  personality,  the 
social  personality,  each  welcomes  the  objects  which  are  in 
harmony  with  its  conditions  and  which  are  therefore 
pleasant,  agreeable,  and  delightful.  Everything  which  is 
contrary  to  the  conditions  of  the  personality  is  rejected, 
therefore  appears  disagreeable  and  unpleasant,  is  there- 
fore not  a  good,  and  is  not  fit  to  enter  into  the  economic 
circulation.  The  feeling  interests  of  the  personalities 
remain  the  ultimate  cause  for  the  whole  economic  inter- 
play. Whatever  industry  and  commerce  create  and  set  in 
motion  must  awake  pleasant  feelings  in  someone.  The 
goods  have  to  pass  through  many  stages  and  change 
hands  many  times  before  they  reach  the  personality  in 
which  that  ultimate  satisfaction  and  pleasure  are  secured. 
This  is  possible  by  the  introduction  of  money,  which  in 


128  Business  Psychology 

itself  has  no  value  and  is  unfit  to  give  pleasure  by  its  own 
substance,  but  which  by  social  agreement  can  be  substi- 
tuted for  any  possible  economic  good  and  becomes  the 
standard  for  the  pleasure  value  of  all  of  them. 

The  Feeling  op  Value 

The  feeling  of  value  of  the  goods  to  be  purchased  must 
for  this  reason  also  become  the  decisive  element  in  the 
advertisements.  We  have  spoken  of  those  factors  in  the 
advertisements  which  simply  draw  the  attention  and  try 
to  hold  it  and  impress  the  announcement  on  memory. 
But  it  is  still  more  essential  that  it  awake  the  feeling  of 
pleasantness,  of  agreement,  of  sympathy,  making  the  pos- 
sible purchaser  wish  that  the  advertised  object  may  agree 
with  his  personality.  Certainly  the  personalities  differ. 
Men  and  women,  young  and  old,  rich  and  poor,  city  peo- 
ple and  country  people,  men  with  interest  in  sport,  or  in 
books,  or  in  music,  or  in  travel,  or  in  politics,  represent 
very  different  dispositions  for  pleasure  and  sympathy. 
Moreover  we  have  seen  that  every  individual  can  come  in 
question  sometimes  as  a  bodily,  sometimes  as  a  mental, 
sometimes  as  a  social  personality.  Thus  the  advertise- 
ment must  be  carefully  adjusted ;  but  some  kind  of  per- 
sonality in  the  reader  must  feel  that  the  offered  goods  are 
in  agreement  and  harmony  with  its  setting,  or  the  ad- 
vertisement will  be  in  vain. 

The  first  step  to  this  triumph  over  the  feelings  of  the 
reader  will  be  taken  by  the  merely  formal  means  which 
secure  a  general  feeling  of  pleasantness.  The  well-pro- 
portioned arrangement  of  the  advertisement,  the  charm- 
ing colors  used  in  the  poster,  the  appeal  to  humor,  the 
gracefulness  of  the  drawing,  the  politeness  of  the  lan- 
guage, the  originality  of  the  make-up,  all  will  have  not 
only  the  effect  of  drawing  and  holding  the  attention  but 


Feeling  and  Emotion  129 

much  more  of  bringing  the  spectator  into  that  comfort- 
able mood  in  which  any  news  is  received  with  a  certain 
willingness.  Where  the  opposite  is  the  case,  where  colors 
are  harsh,  the  arrangement  clumsy,  where  it  is  difficult  to 
read  the  text,  or  where  the  words  are  trivial  or  stale,  the 
personality  has  a  general  feeling  of  discomfort  and  re- 
ceives any  content  as  a  kind  of  interference  with  the  per- 
sonal attitude.  Even  the  most  attractive  offer  would 
have  an  uphill  fight  to  make  under  such  circumstances. 

Yet  this  appeal  to  the  general  feeling  of  pleasantness 
is  not  sufficient  to  sell  the  goods.  It  only  prepares  the 
way  for  the  feeling  effect  which  the  content  of  the  an- 
nouncement tries  to  awake.  The  personality  feels  at- 
tracted because  the  object  suggests  an  appetizing  flavor, 
or  gives  a  feeling  of  safety,  or  promises  elegance  and 
fashionable  distinction,  or  great  economy,  or  improve- 
ment of  health,  or  personal  beauty.  Often  the  social  per- 
sonality feels  itself  furthered  by  the  thought  of  buying 
that  which  is  used  by  well-known  persons  or  which  has  the 
approval  of  public  opinion.  Where  it  is  fitting,  the  ap- 
peal to  the  parents '  love  for  their  children,  or  to  patriot- 
ism, or  to  religious  faith,  or  to  confidence  in  scientific 
results  will  be  sure!  to  supply  economic  value  to  the 
advertised  goods.  Psychological  experiments  in  which 
advertisements  with  different  feeling  appeals  were  graded 
by  twenty  men  and  twenty  women  showed  as  average  that 
the  idea  of  health  appeals  to  the  personality  most 
Wrongly,  next  comes  that  of  cleanliness,  then  of  scien- 
tific justification,  then  of  timesaving,  of  appetite,  of  the 
desire  for  efficiency,  of  safety,  of  durability,  of  high  qual- 
ity, of  modernity,  and  so  on.  Where  no  element  of  the 
personality  welcomes  or  rejects  an  offered  good,  no  feel- 
ing is  stirred  up,  a  state  of  indifference  exists,  and 
nothing  can  induce  the  reader  to  purchase  the  object,  as 


130  Business  Psychology 

the  purchase  means  the  sacrifice  of  money,  and  this 
money  involves  the  giving  up  of  some  opportunity  to 
secure  the  sources  of  pleasant  feelings. 

Thb  Value  of  Pleasure  in  Work 

We  have  spoken  so  far  only  of  the  feeling  of  value 
which  the  final  product  produces  and  which  indeed  gives 
ultimate  meaning  to  all  industrial  and  commercial  trans- 
actions. Nobody  would  manufacture  any  goods  and  no- 
body would  distribute  them  in  the  world  if  they  had  not 
finally  value  of  satisfaction  for  some  personality.  The 
moral  man  performs  the  good  and  noble  deed  for  its  own 
sake.  If  no  man  sees  it,  God  sees  it.  It  is  done  because 
it  is  good.  But  in  the  economic  world  nothing  is  done  for 
its  own  sake.  If  taste  changes  and  no  one  any  longer  has 
pleasure  in  a  certain  thing,  no  factory  will  turn  it  out 
and  no  department  store  will  handle  it.  But  while  the 
pleasure  in  the  commercial  goods  must  be  the  normal 
condition  for  the  whole  process,  we  must  not  overlook 
that  this  alone  is  not  the  only  point  at  which  the  indus- 
trial and  commercial  life  come  in  contact  with  the  psy- 
chology of  feeling. 

Nobody  would  manufacture  and  sell  silk  stockings  or 
graphophones,  or  would  raise  oranges,  or  would  fish  for 
lobsters,  if  there  were  not  people  in  the  world  to  whom 
the  wearing  of  the  stockings,  and  the  listening  to  the 
graphophones,  and  the  tasting  of  lobsters  gives  some 
pleasure.  Their  enjoyment  is  the  spring  of  the  whole 
transaction.  But  to  perfect  the  stockings,  to  weave  them 
and  to  dye  them,  to  distribute  them  to  the  retailer  and  to 
sell  them  to  the  girl  who  wears  them,  involves  the  activity 
of  hundreds  who  have  to  co-operate  in  a  most  complex 
way  and  of  whom  not  one  shares  the  enjoyment  of  wear- 
ing that  pair  of  stockings.    The  grower  who  picks  the 


Feeling  and  Emotion  131 

oranges  in  his  California  orchard  picks  them  in  order, 
that  the  New  Yorker  may  enjoy  them  at  his  breakfast 
table.  He  himself  does  not  consume  his  fruit  which  he 
sells  and  those  hundreds  who  are  engaged  in  its  trans- 
portation and  who  carry  the  oranges  from  the  Pacific  to 
the  Atlantic  or  who  sell  them  in  the  grocery  store  cannot 
feel  the  pleasure  in  the  taste  of  the  juicy  fruit. 

Yet  no  one  of  them  would  have  an  interest  in  his  activ- 
ity and  therefore  would  not  be  willing  to  raise  a  hand  in 
that  complex  transaction  if  there  were  not  something 
which  satisfied  him  and  which  gave  him  a  pleasure  feeling 
in  exchange  for  his  contribution.  The  workingmen  who 
weave  and  dye  the  stockings  and  the  salesmen  who  spread 
them  out  on  the  counter  must  link  these  activities  with 
some  pleasure,  just  as  much  as  the  final  purchaser  of  the 
goods  couples  pleasure  mth  their  use.  The  mere  phys- 
ical activity  of  tending  the  machines  in  the  textile  mill  or 
the  running  about  as  traveling  salesman  to  the  shops  can- 
not be  in  itself  the  incentive.  In  so  far  as  it  is  fatiguing 
and  connected  with  hardships  it  even  awakes  unpleasant 
feelings  which,  as  we  saw,  tend  to  stop  the  source  of  the 
discomfort.  Workingman  and  salesman  would  therefore 
give  up  the  work  if  their  disagreeable  sensations  were 
not  outbalanced  by  stronger  sources  of  pleasantness. 
These  are,  of  course,  given  in  the  wages  for  their  work 
and  in  all  the  secondary  agreeable  features  of  their  in- 
dustrial or  commercial  position.  Hence  the  essential 
effort  must  be  to  adjust  all  business  life  so  that  the  pleas- 
ant feelings  are  stronger  than  the  unpleasant  feelings  in 
everyone  who  contributes  to  the  great  process  by  whicii 
the  pleasant  object  is  finally  brought  to  the  purchaser. 

The  subtlest  balancing  and  the  most  careful  grading  of 
the  pleasures  are  always  needed.  High  wages  may  be  less 
pleasant  than  lower  ones  if  the  higher  ones  are  uncertain 


132  Business  Psychology 

and  the  low  ones  certain  and  steady.  Nor  will  the  high 
wages  alone  be  decisive  if  they  go  together  with  working 
conditions  which  interfere  with  the  enjoyment  of  good 
health  or  with  the  pleasure  in  sympathetic  human  rela- 
tions or  if  they  are  coupled  with  excessive  fatigue  from 
the  work  itself.  In  every  case  the  relation  to  the  needs 
of  the  personality  will  be  the  controlling  factor. 

The  pleasures  which  the  captain  of  industry  or  the 
great  merchant  or  the  banker  derives  from  his  work  will 
have  very  different  sources  from  those  which  feed  the 
emotional  life  of  the  workingman,  but  the  situation  as  a 
whole  is  the  same.  Their  mental  personality  is  composed 
from  other  factors  and  the  processes  which  agree  or  dis- 
agree with  their  personality  are  therefore  different.  But 
the  harmony  or  disharmony  with  the  energies  of  the  per- 
sonality remains  here  too  essential.  Such  a  leader  of 
business  life  enjoys  not  only  his  financial  income  but  his 
power  over  the  market,  his  social  standing,  the  luxury  at 
his  command,  his  influence  on  public  affairs.  All  these 
social  effects  are  necessary  for  him  to  maintain  that  feel- 
ing of  vitality  which  forms  the  core  of  the  self.  Wher- 
ever these  feelings  respond  the  desire  to  work  toward  the 
continuation  and  strengthening  of  their  sources  must 
result.  Where  the  conditions  are  unfavorable  for  the 
inner  development  of  the  personality,  where  disappoint- 
ment sets  in  and  worry  follows,  where  failure  comes  and 
loss,  the  emotional  reverberation  of  distress  and  grief 
interferes  with  the  energetic  activity. 

Imagination 

The  higher  the  life  work  the  more  the  pleasure,  and  the 
resulting  interests  are  independent  of  the  momentary 
impressions  and  are  linked  with  the  whole  situation,  in- 
cluding what  the  future  may  bring.    The  simplest  work- 


Feeling  and  Emotion  133 

ingman  reaches  a  higher  level  if  he  does  not  ask  only  for 
the  pleasure  in  the  wages  of  the  day,  but  also  considers 
his  future  and  the  joy  or  misery  to  which  his  life  may 
lead  him.  The  joy  in  the  gifts  of  the  future  can  be  far 
stronger  than  the  satisfaction  in  the  offerings  of  the 
present.  Here  lies  the  spring  of  the  power  of  imagina- 
tion. Through  imagination  a  possible  joyful  achieve- 
ment of  the  future  is  anticipated  in  the  mind  and  the 
pleasure  in  this  hoped-for  effect  becomes  the  moving 
force  for  the  inner  life.  The  inventor  holds  before  his 
mind  an  unsolved  problem,  anticipating  the  joy  which 
its  solution  will  bring  him  in  the  future.  This  joy  has 
stronger  hold  on  him  than  any  suffering  or  deprivation 
which  he  must  undergo  in  the  pursuit  of  his  distant  goal. 
His  personality  is  widened  so  as  to  include  all  those  pos- 
sible coming  experiences.  He  does  not  feel  the  hunger  of 
today  because  he  is  thrilled  by  the  glory  of  the  future 
achievement. 

These  joys  of  the  imagination  can  enter  into  every  life, 
the  humblest  as  well  as  the  noblest.  Everybody's  imag- 
ination can  turn  to  possible  improvements  and  develop- 
ments toward  which  his  efforts  are  directed.  No  business 
life  is  really  successful  which  is  not  aided  by  some  kind 
of  imagination.  Nobody  lives  from  the  satisfactions  of 
the  present  only.  Anticipated  joys  of  the  future  are  the 
chief  motives  to  action.  Every  successful  life  is,  after  all, 
a  life  with  a  life  plan.  Only  where  strong  feelings  are 
attached  to  the  ideas  of  worthy  ends  can  the  whole  work 
be  organized  for  true  achievement.  The  action  of  the 
attention  is  only  a  means  in  the  service  of  feeling.  Feel- 
ing alone  is  the  true  incentive  to  action.  But  this  indi- 
cates that  a  true  understanding  of  the  mind  at  work  ia 
possible  only  if  we  consider  the  activities  of  the  mind  aa 
well  as  its  knowledge  and  its  interests. 


134  Business  Psydiology 

TEST  QUESTIONS 

1.  What  effect  do  feelings  have  upon  attention? 

2.  What  do  physicians  mean  by  the  hysterical  splitting  of 
the  personality? 

3.  What  are  some  of  the  most  elementary  laws  of  feeling? 

4.  What  is  meant  by  symmetry  in  objects?  Why  does  the 
absence  of  it  produce  a  disagreeable  effect? 

5.  How  does  the  body  itself  respond  to  feelings?  Describe 
the  bodily  reactions  of  a  business  man  who  has  just  received 
joyful  news. 

6.  How  do  the  aesthetic  feelings  benefit  a  business  man  ? 

7.  How  do  the  needs  of  the  physical,  mental,  and  social 
personalities  differ? 

8.  How  does  the  advertiser  use  the  feeling  of  value  in  his  ad- 
vertisements ? 

9.  How  do  you  increase  your  pleasure  feeling  in  your  own 
work? 

10.  How  does  imagination  enrich  life? 


PART  FOUR  — ACTIVrnES 
CHAPTER  X 

IMPUI.SE  AND  WnX 

The  Complexity  op  the  Will 

Every  human  function  which  has  economic  significance 
must  culminate  in  action.  Thoughts  or  wishes,  feelings 
or  emotions,  impressions  or  memories,  which  have  no  in- 
fluence on  an  external  action  are  entirely  irrelevant  for 
practical  life.  To  be  sure,  the  action  need  not  be  a  move- 
ment of  the  arms  or  legs,  the  turning  of  a  wheel,  or  the 
carrying  of  a  package.  The  writing  of  a  letter,  the  speak- 
ing of  a  sentence,  even  the  turning  of  the  head,  or  the 
directing  of  the  eyes  to  a  certain  point  may  be  the  total 
outer  effect.  The  nodding  of  the  head  may  complete  a 
big  business  transaction.  The  writing  of  a  figure  on  a 
check  may  decide  upon  the  economic  results  of  a  lifetime. 
Somehow  every  mental  process  which  has  commercial  or 
industrial  interest  must  end  in  such  an  action  and  that 
means  in  some  muscle  contraction. 

We  are  accustomed  in  popular  language  to  refer  all 
such  actions  to  our  will.  It  is  our  will  which  makes  us 
say  ''yes"  or  "no,"  which  makes  us  take  up  this  or  that 
work,  which  writes  our  letters,  and  makes  us  buy  or  sell, 
undertake  an  enterprise  or  carry  it  out.  But  such  a 
reference  to  the  will  may  easily  mislead.  It  suggests  that 
there  is  one  mental  power  in  the  center  of  our  mind  which 
decides  in  an  autocratic  way  what  is  to  happen.    Such  a 

135 


136  Business  Psychology 

will-power  does  not  exist  any  more  than  a  special 
memory-power  or  perception-power.  We  have  millions 
of  perceptions  in  seeing  and  hearing  whatever  occurs; 
we  have  millions  of  memory-images  in  experiencing  the 
reproduced  mental  states.  And  it  is  nothing  but  a  word 
if  we  take  all  these  perceptive  processes  together  and  call 
them  the  products  of  perception,  and  bring  together  all 
the  remembered  experiences  and  call  them  the  products 
of  memory.  The  real  thing  is  not  one  memory,  but  mil- 
lions of  memory-reproductions. 

In  exactly  the  same  way,  the  real  thing  is  not  will  but 
the  millions  of  volition  processes  which  go  on  in  us.  Each 
one  arises  from  the  special  mental  conditions,  not  through 
the  agency  of  one  general  will  behind  it.  Our  mind  is  not 
an  autocratic  monarchy  but  a  republic  in  which  each  indi- 
vidual volition  has  its  complete  responsibility.  Then  the 
word  "will"  serves  only  as  a  general  label  for  all  the 
manifold  acts  of  volition.  Our  problem  is  accordingly 
not,  what  will  is,  but  what  the  characteristic  traits  of  all 
the  volitional  acts  are.  Under  what  conditions  do  we  call 
an  act  of  ours  a  will-act? 

Certainly  not  every  movement  which  our  muscles  per- 
form under  the  influence  of  our  mind  is  a  real  will-act. 
On  the  contrary,  the  more  earnestly  we  study  actual  hap- 
penings the  more  we  must  recognize  that  far  the  largest 
part  of  our  movements  is  performed  without  any  real 
will-experience.  Moreover,  if  we  trace  the  processes 
back  to  the  beginning  of  our  individual  development,  we 
discover  that  the  will  is  anyhow  a  late  development  and 
that  the  child  performs  complex  acts  before  the  will 
makes  its  appearance.  We  are  too  readily  inclined  to  be 
trapped  into  a  wrong  conclusion.  We  find  that  our  will 
can  produce  an  action,  and  we  draw  from  that  the  entirely 
misleading  idea  that  wherever  an  action  is  performed 


Impulse  and  WiU  137 

by  us  our  vdll  must  stand  behind  it.  The  right  idea, 
which  is  becoming  more  and  more  familiar  to  the  modern 
psychologists,  is  backed  by  a  very  different  set  of  facts. 
We  know  today  that  every  impression,  perception,  or 
idea  has  in  itself  the  tendency  to  he  transformed  into  ac- 
tion. Yes,  we  may  say  that  this  is  the  fundamental 
thought  of  our  present-day  psychology. 

According  to  the  older  view,  psychologists  treated  the 
sensations  or  perceptive  ideas  or  memory-ideas  or 
thoughts  as  if  the  processes  were  completed  when  our 
mind  took  hold  of  them.  An  idea,  a  thought,  a  memory, 
is  experienced  and  that  is  the  end  of  it.  It  seemed  only 
an  accidental  affair  if  afterward  there  arose  an  impulse 
to  act  in  accordance  with  that  thought  or  memory  or  per- 
ception. The  impulse  to  act  and  the  resulting  muscle 
contraction  appeared  as  an  appendix  which  was  super- 
fluous for  the  development  of  the  idea.  Those  percep- 
tions and  memories  might  fill  the  mind  and  might  excite 
the  sensory  centers  of  the  brain  without  any  contact  with 
those  spheres  of  the  personality  in  which  the  doings  of 
man  are  generated. 

The  Unity  of  Mental  and  Physical  Acts 

Today  we  should  say  that  such  a  separation  of  idea  and 
action  is  entirely  artificial.  They  belong  most  intimately 
together ;  the  one  cannot  exist  without  the  other.  An  ac- 
tion which  is  not  guided  by  ideas,  if  we  use  the  word  in 
its  widest  sense,  would  be  useless  and  meaningless.  It 
would  be  a  haphazard  muscle  contraction  without  adjust- 
ment to  the  surrounding  world,  which  we  know  through 
our  perceptions  and  thoughts.  But  the  ideas  without 
actions  would  be  no  less  superfluous  for  the  welfare  of 
the  personality  and  all  the  facts  which  we  know  indicate 
that  such  detached  ideas  have  no  real  existence  in  our 


138  Business  Psychology 

world  experience.  From  the  first  instant  of  human  life 
impressions  lead  directly  to  actions.  The  nervous  circuit 
in  the  brain  does  not  find  an  end  station  in  those  sensory 
centers  to  which  the  sense  organs  send  their  messages. 
Those  sensory  centers  are  only  way  stations  and  the  ex- 
citement is  carried  on  to  the  motor  centers  in  the  brain 
from  which  the  impulses  lead  to  the  muscles. 

The  baby  who  swallows  the  sweet  milk  or  still  earlier 
begins  life  with  crying  in  the  cold  air  performs  char- 
acteristic actions  which  are  the  necessary  result  of  the 
given  nervous  connections.  The  sweet  and  warm  taste 
stimulation  of  the  tongue  by  the  milk  reaches  the  brain 
and  the  excitement  in  the  brain  is  accompanied  by  the 
sweet  and  warm  sensations.  These  awake  directly,  with- 
out any  mixing  in  of  will  or  decision,  those  motor  brain 
centers  which  send  impulses  to  the  muscles  of  mouth  and 
throat  by  which  sucking  and  swallowing  are  performed. 
The  child  perceives  this  transition  of  the  brain-action 
into  the  movements  by  which  the  warmth  and  sweetness 
will  be  continued  as  a  feeling  of  pleasure ;  and  finally  he 
perceives  the  action  itself,  the  sucking  and  swallowing 
movements  which  furnish  the  mind  with  the  correspond- 
ing movement  sensations.  Thus  the  infant  becomes 
aware  of  every  part  of  the  process  from  the  first  contact 
of  the  tongue  with  the  milk  to  the  last  useful  action  by 
which  this  contact  is  continued. 

If,  just  to  reverse  the  situation,  instead  of  the  warm 
milk  some  bitter  fluid  is  applied  to  the  lips  of  the  child, 
as  has  been  done  by  physicians  for  experiment's  sake,  in 
the  very  first  minutes  of  life  the  brain  responds  in  a  use- 
ful manner.  It  switches  the  excitement  not  into  the 
centers  for  swallowing  and  sucking,  but  into  the  opposite 
ones  for  rejecting  the  dangerous  substance,  withdrawing 
the  lips,  throwing  out  what  has  entered  the  throat,  and 


Impulse  and  WUl  139 

closing  the  mouth.  The  accompanying  mental  process  is 
a  feeling  of  displeasure,  as  the  mind  always  feels  dis- 
pleasure when  the  brain  develops  those  actions  by  which 
the  stimulus  is  discontinued,  and  finally  the  perception 
of  the  rejecting  response  itself. 

The  nervous  brain  tracts  are  thus  from  the  beginning 
prepared  for  the  most  useful  reactions.  To  be  sure,  the 
circle  of  stimuli  for  which  the  brain  of  the  baby  is  pre- 
pared is  very  small,  because  very  few  chief  paths  are 
completely  developed.  But  every  month  brings  new 
brain  passage-ways.  At  first  the  child  responds  only 
very  clumsily  by  his  eye  movements  to  light  impressions. 
Soon  this  reaction  becomes  accurate.  The  light,  which 
excites  a  certain  spot  in  the  retina,  is  led  to  the  brain  not 
to  end  there  as  a  light  sensation,  but  to  strike  on  the 
motor  center  which  leads  to  the  exactly  appropriate  reac- 
tions of  the  eye  muscles.  The  eye  turns  toward  that  light 
so  that  the  light  falls  on  the  center  of  the  retina  and  gives 
the  sharpest  possible  image.  In  a  similar  way  the  tactual 
sensations  and  visual  sensations  lead  to  grasping  move- 
ments. The  child  stretches  out  his  arm  for  the  toy,  but 
also  for  the  moon.  The  action  is  not  performed  with  a 
particular  will,  but  in  an  entirely  automatic  way. 

Automatic  Actions 

Let  us  call  those  actions  in  which  the  impression  or 
idea  of  an  outer  situation  leads  to  an  action  without  the 
conscious  interfering  or  interposing  of  a  special  will, 
"automatic  actions."  Then  the  question  arises :  To  what 
extent  do  such  automatic  actions  occur  in  our  ordinary 
life?  We  insisted  only  that  our  life  begins  with  them. 
But  is  the  situation  such  that  these  automatic  actions 
are  forms  of  activity  which  occur  only  in  the  undeveloped 
mental  mechanism  of  the  child,  but  which  are  overcome 


140  Business  Psychology 

as  soon  as  a  higher  stage  of  fuller  development  is 
reached?  Is  man's  life  cleared  from  such  merely  auto- 
matic reactions?  Are  they  replaced  in  his  activities  by 
the  actions  of  the  will?  Certainly  not.  On  the  contrary 
the  automatic  actions  also  remain  in  the  adult  and  the 
most  highly  developed  mind  as  the  typical  forms  of  hu- 
man behavior. 

True  will-actions  make  up  by  far  the  smaller  part  of 
our  responses  to  the  world.  The  workingman  who  stands 
before  the  machine  with  which  he  is  familiar  may  have 
to  perform  a  dozen  different  actions  one  after  another  in 
response  to  certain  signals  from  the  moving  parts.  He 
sees  the  turning  of  a  wheel  or  hears  a  click  and  he  imme- 
diately reacts  with  a  correct  and  useful  muscle  contrac- 
tion. He  does  not  exert  any  special  will-effort  to  do  the 
right  thing  and  to  choose  it  among  many  possible  wrong 
things.  The  one  impression  automatically  awakes  at 
once  the  impulse  to  the  one  action  which  is  fit. 

When  his  work  is  over  and  he  goes  home,  he  may  have 
to  take  many  a  step  and  make  many  a  turn  through  the 
streets  from  the  factory  door  to  the  threshold  of  his 
house;  and  yet  he  does  not  move  his  legs  on  the  street 
by  special  will-actions.  He  may  not  even  give  any  at- 
tention to  them.  He  may  be  absorbed  in  his  thoughts  or 
may  be  talking  with  the  friend  who  accompanies  him. 
Yet  his  walking  home  is  not  done  without  consciousness. 
He  escapes  passing  automobiles,  he  takes  the  right  turn 
every  time  in  response  to  what  he  sees  and  hears  and  to 
the  tactual  impressions  which  his  feet  receive.  But  even 
if  he  talks  with  his  friend  on  the  way  home,  are  not  most 
of  his  remarks  and  answers  probably  speech  movements 
of  simply  automatic  character?  If  his  friend  approaches 
him  with  the  question  whether  he  is  going  home,  he  an- 
swers "yes,**  and  if  he  asks  him  whether  he  has  seen  the 


Impulse  and  Will  141 

paper,  he  answers  *'no,"  and  if  he  asks  what  the  name 
of  the  man  who  passed  them  is,  he  replies  with  the  name ; 
his  answers  come  just  as  automatically  as  the  movements 
of  his  feet  in  response  to  the  optical  impression  of  the 
street. 

But  it  may  be  different.  If  he  has  the  intention  not  to 
go  home,  but  to  the  next  saloon,  he  may  have  reasons  not 
to  tell  his  acquaintance.  Then  a  more  complex  mental 
state  arises.  The  automatic  reply  would  be,  '*No,  I  am 
going  to  stop  at  the  saloon. ' '  But  before  that  impulse  is 
carried  out,  an  association  arises,  an  idea  of  a  social  dis- 
advantage resulting  from  that  answer,  and  this  asso- 
ciated idea  will  automatically  lead  to  the  suppression  of 
the  first  impulse  and  to  the  opposite  impulse  of  covering 
his  intentions  by  the  claim  that  he  is  going  home.  Then 
the  two  possible  answers  will  be  before  his  mind,  one  con- 
nected with  the  idea  of  social  discomfort,  the  other  with 
the  idea  of  truthfulness.  A  rivalry  between  the  two  be- 
gins ;  secondary  ideas  cluster  around  them.  Finally  one 
of  the  two  possible  answers  will  be  given,  but  whichever 
it  is,  it  is  given  with  a  conscious  will,  with  an  inner  de- 
cision, with  a  feeling  of  responsibility,  with  a  state  of 
mind  in  which  the  action  is  no  longer  automatic. 

Will- Actions 

We  can  generalize  this.  We  have  a  will-action  before 
us  only  when  the  end  to  be  reached  is  somehow  in  our 
consciousness  before  the  action  itself  proceeds.  The  idea 
of  the  end  to  be  reached  may  be  vague  and  loose  and 
indistinct  in  our  consciousness,  but  somehow  it  must  have 
entered  our  conscious  mind  before  we  perform  the  de- 
cisive steps  of  the  action  itself  if  we  are  to  value  the 
action  as  a  product  of  our  own  will,  as  against  the  merely 
automatic  performance.     But   now   we   see   from   this 


142  Business  Psychology 

most  trivial  illustration  why  we  have  a  right  to  put  so 
much  emphasis  on  the  difference  between  a  will-action 
and  an  action  without  a  specific  will  element.  We  see  that 
only  the  cases  in  which  the  idea  of  an  end  is  in  us  before 
the  act  is  gone  through  offer  us  a  chance  to  stop  the 
action  and  to  do  something  else. 

Of  course  the  automatic  action  too  is  the  product  of  our 
personality,  as  it  is  dependent  upon  the  connections  which 
are  formed  in  our  personal  brain-system.  But  as  long  as 
our  brain  acts  without  bringing  up  the  idea  of  the  end 
before  the  action,  we  have  no  chance  to  bring  forward  all 
those  associations  and  ideas  which  may  warn  us  against 
the  performance  and  its  consequences.  Only  where  the 
idea  is  in  us  beforehand  and  all  our  memories,  and  knowl- 
edge, and  thoughts  can  enter  into  play,  can  we  really  say 
that  we  ourselves  are  responsible  for  the  choice  of  our 
action.  We  foresaw  and  accepted  the  consequences  and 
we  did  not  interfere  with  the  process.  We  did  it  in  free- 
dom ;  we  could  have  done  otherwise,  that  is,  we  could  have 
put  the  whole  weight  of  our  attention  on  those  opposite 
ideas  which  would  have  stopped  the  action  and  which 
would  have  freed  us  from  its  consequences.  The  con- 
scious thinking  of  the  end  before  the  movement  is  car- 
ried out  indeed  makes  the  greatest  difference  in  the  world 
in  our  actions. 

Abnormal  Actions 

We  throw  light  most  directly  on  the  situation  if  we 
compare  our  normal  action  with  abnormal  situations. 
The  mind  which  is  in  an  abnormal  condition  experiences 
will-impulses  like  any  normal  mind.  Even  the  idea  of  the 
end  may  come  normally  into  consciousness  but  somehow 
the  mental  mechanism  is  disturbed  and  the  associations 
are  absent  or  are  not  effective;  in  short,  something  inter- 


Impulse  am,d  WiU  143 

feres  with  the  regular  procedure.  Therefore  we  have  no 
rijrht  to  consider  the  action  as  free  and  to  make  the  actor 
himself  responsible  for  his  deeds.  The  patient  who  suf- 
fers from  fever  delirium  is  not  responsible  if  he  throws 
himself  out  of  the  window.  His  mind  does  not  bring  to 
him  the  normal  idea  of  the  danger.  He  is  unable  to 
inhibit  the  impulse  and  his  feeling  leads  directly  to  the 
dangerous  act.  It  is  not  an  act  of  suicide  which  he  com- 
mits, because  it  is  not  really  his  whole  self  which  is  act- 
ing.   He  is  not  responsible. 

The  paranoiac  who  shoots  at  anyone  against  whom  he 
believes  himself  to  have  a  grievance  belongs  in  an  asylum, 
not  in  a  prison,  because  his  brain  mechanism  is  destroyed. 
There  is  no  normal  interplay  between  the  various  ideas 
which  lead  to  action  and  the  opposite  ideas  which  check 
the  action.  The  thought  of  killing  the  supposed  enemy 
is  automatically  transformed  into  this  act  of  violence. 
Even  the  drunken  man  is  not  responsible  for  his  action. 
Perhaps  he  answers  a  word  which  he  dislikes  with  a  vehe- 
ment insult  or  with  a  blow.  In  a  normal  state  the  idea 
of  such  an  end  to  be  reached  would  have  forced  itself  on 
his  consciousness  with  all  its  dangerous  social  conse- 
quences. This  idea  of  the  danger  and  unfitness  would 
have  been  suflScient  to  paralyze  the  motor  impulse.  But 
as  soon  as  the  actor  is  under  the  influence  of  alcohol, 
those  mechanisms  in  the  brain  which  could  inhibit  the 
actions  are  temporarily  paralyzed.  The  inhibitory  power 
is  checked  and  the  result  is  that  the  action  of  speaking 
the  insult  or  of  striking  the  blow  is  rashly  carried  out. 

Development  of  Wlll-Actions 

We  can  easily  understand  how  in  the  child's  life  this 
more  complex  process  begins  to  develop.  The  child  per- 
forms his  actions  of  grasping  or  sitting  or  turning  or 


144  Business  Psychology 

walking  or  playing  or  making  a  noise  in  a  purely  auto- 
matic way.  But  whatever  he  performs,  he  becomes  aware 
of  the  effect.  The  block  on  the  table  awakes  his  impulse 
to  grasp  it.  But  as  soon  as  he  grasps  it,  he  perceives 
his  own  grasping.  The  order  of  events  for  him  is  there- 
fore first  to  perceive  the  wooden  block  on  the  table  and 
then  to  perceive  the  muscle  sensations  of  grasping  and 
finally  to  perceive  the  block  in  his  hand.  The  outcome  is 
that  associations  are  formed.  The  experienced  order  of 
brain  events  becomes  linked  in  the  nerve  mechanisms. 
The  next  stage  must  be  that  if  such  a  wooden  block  is  seen 
again  on  the  table,  it  not  only  awakes  the  impulse  to  grasp 
it  as  before,  but  that  through  the  still  quicker  associa- 
tive connection  the  memory-image  of  those  movement 
sensations  and  of  the  idea  of  the  block  in  the  hand  arises 
in  consciousness. 

If  we  take  the  case  that  it  was  not  a  wooden  block  but 
a  knife,  with  which  he  cut  his  finger,  the  process  will  be 
still  more  complex.  The  seeing  of  the  knife  in  the  future 
will  awake  again  the  impulse  to  seize  it,  but  the  asso- 
ciated memory-image  of  the  movement  sensation  and  of 
the  picture  of  the  knife  in  his  hand  will  now  be  linked  with 
the  memory  of  the  pain  from  the  cut.  This  idea  of  the 
resulting  pain  will  be  strong  enough  to  produce  the  oppo- 
site effect;  the  action  will  be  stopped.  The  idea  before 
the  action  is  thus  entirely  the  product  of  mechanical  asso- 
ciations; and  yet  the  presence  of  these  associations  se- 
cures the  will-character  for  the  deed.  All  the  earlier 
experiences  of  the  child  become  in  this  way  serviceable 
in  selecting  his  action.    It  is  a  true  will-action. 

This  development  is  going  on  all  the  time.  We  adult 
persons  come  to  new  will-actions  also  by  first  passing 
through  automatic  actions,  learning  their  results,  and 
bringing  up  the  memory-images  of  them  in  the  service  of 


Impulse  and  Will  145 

raore  complex  actions  to  be  performed.  To  be  sure,  in 
the  center  of  siicli  actions  we  find  in  our  consciousness  a 
special  feeling  of  decision.  There  comes  a  moment  when 
we  are  aware  that  many  actions  are  possible  but  we  want 
to  perform  just  the  one.  We  select  it  out  of  the  rival 
ideas  of  ends.  Is  there  not,  after  all,  some  special  will 
involved  which  gives  a  push  to  one  action  and  suppresses 
the  others?  Yet  this  feeling  of  impulse  is  only  the  idea 
of  the  first  step  to  be  taken.  Most  of  our  actions  involve 
a  whole  chain  of  movements. 

If  we  are  to  undertake  a  journey,  as  many  of  us  often 
must,  we  do  not  have  one  motor  impulse  before  us,  but 
a  system  of  thousands  of  actions.  The  muscle  contrac- 
tions which  we  need  for  buying  the  railroad  ticket  or 
packing  our  trunk  are  not  the  carrying  out  of  the  journey. 
The  idea  which  we  have  in  mind  before  we  begin  that 
chain  of  actions  may  not  be  the  act  of  traveling,  but  per- 
haps the  sight  of  the  city  which  we  want  to  visit  or  the 
names  of  the  men  on  whom  we  want  to  call  or  of  the 
hotels  which  we  are  to  frequent.  If  we  are  undecided 
whether  we  ought  to  undertake  the  journey  or  not,  the 
idea  of  that  distant  town  and  of  our  calls  there  may  rival 
in  our  mind  the  idea  of  the  comforts  at  home  or  the  tasks 
which  we  might  carry  on  at  home  or  the  idea  of  saving  the 
money  which  the  journey  will  cost.  There  comes  a  mo- 
ment when  the  final  decision  must  be  made  whether  we 
will  travel  or  stay  at  home. 

But  if  we  analyze  it  carefully  we  find  that  even  this  act 
of  decision  is  again  nothing  but  such  a  thinking  of  the 
end  with  the  emphasis  which  leads  to  action.  Only  this 
end  is  now  not  the  final  end ;  it  is  the  first  step,  the  first 
movements  to  be  carried  out.  If  these  first  movements 
are  present  in  the  mind  in  the  form  of  movement-sensa- 
tions, they  are  felt  as  the  immediate  intj-odu'ction  to  the 


146  Business  Psychology 

whole  performance  and  are  taken  as  the  necessary  sig- 
nal. They  rise,  therefore,  to  the  dignity  of  a  decisive 
factor  and  give  us  the  feeling  of  an  ultimate  impulse  to 
go  on  our  journey.  Their  immediate  effect  is  a  new  set- 
ting of  all  our  brain  connections  by  which  every  idea  is 
carried  into  the  appropriate  paths  in  the  service  of  our 
plan  for  the  journey.  All  the  further  processes  are  then 
almost  automatic  reactions.  The  chief  point  for  us  is 
that  here  too  the  so-called  will  element,  the  act  of  deci- 
sion, is  nothing  but  this  idea  of  the  end  in  the  mind  before 
the  act  is  performed. 

Interplay  of  Automatio  Actions  and  Will-Actions 

The  building  up  of  our  will-actions,  however,  demands 
a  further  consideration.  Our  automatic  actions,  we  saw, 
become  will-actions  as  soon  as  by  association  the  memory- 
idea  of  the  perceived  end  enters  consciousness  before  the 
action  is  performed.  Our  will-action,  on  the  other  hand, 
can  at  any  time  become  automatic;  and  this  is  very  im- 
portant. It  is  the  very  condition  of  our  development  in 
the  world  of  our  practical  affairs.  Of  course,  it  would 
not  help  us  if  it  were  simply  a  turning  of  this  will-action 
into  the  original  automatic  action.  The  true  situation  is 
this :  Our  automatic  actions  become  will-actions,  and  thus 
become  subordinated  to  our  plans.  We  can  use  them  in 
the  service  of  our  ends,  and  we  can  combine  them  for  new 
ends  which  could  not  be  reached  automatically.  The  sin- 
gle hand  and  finger  movements  of  the  child  are  proceed- 
ing automatically  until  they  are  under  the  control  of  the 
will  by  the  acquisition  of  those  movement  sensations. 

When  that  stage  is  reached,  many  of  these  movements 
can  be  combined,  for  instance,  into  the  writing  move- 
ments, which  could  never  arise  automatically.  They  are 
the  result  of  th^e  conscious  will-efforts.    But  as  soon  as 


Impulse  and  Will  147 

these  complex  actions  of  writing  have  been  performed 
repeatedly,  this  whole  complex  will  performance  can  be- 
come automatic.  The  mere  idea  of  the  word  to  be  written 
leads  to  the  total  set  of  movements  without  any  particular 
idea  of  the  movements  to  be  performed,  and  that  means, 
without  any  special  will-effort,  to  write  the  word.  When 
the  adult  person  writes  a  letter,  the  idea  to  be  expressed 
secures  the  nervous  action  by  which  the  fingers  move  in 
the  correct  order  until  the  whole  word  has  been  written 
down.  The  writing  itself  has  become  as  automatic  as 
originally  the  simplest  finger  movement.  This  alone 
makes  it  possible  to  use  the  finger  action  of  writing  in  the 
service  of  still  more  complex  will-activities,  like  book- 
keeping or  correspondence.  The  trained  typist  responds 
to  the  sound  of  a  spoken  word  by  the  finger  movements  on 
the  keyboard  of  the  typewriting  machine  without  giving 
any  will-effort  to  the  choice  of  the  particular  keys.  His 
will-actions,  which  were  at  first  difficult,  have  become 
automatized. 

In  this  way  we  have  an  endless  interplay.  Automatic 
movements  with  which  nature  has  provided  the  nervous 
mechanism  are  made  parts  of  complex  will-actions,  and 
by  repetition  these  will-actions  themselves  become  auto- 
matic. As  soon  as  they  are  automatic,  they  can  again 
enter  as  parts  into  more  complex  will-actions.  But  most 
of  our  life  is  carried  on  through  the  agency  of  these  auto- 
matic performances. 

Application  of  Principles  in  Business 

So  much  of  the  theory  of  impulse  and  will  is  surely 
needed  to  understand  psychologically  the  details  of  indus- 
trial and  commercial  activities.  More  than  that,  whoever 
understands  clearly  these  theoretical  principles  can  easily 
deduce  from  them  the  answers  to  any  special  questions 


148  Business  Psychology 

which  a  concrete  situation  may  offer.     Every  function 
in  the  business  sphere  cuhninates  in  some  action,  and 
every  effort  to  improve  the  work  must  be  controlled  by 
understanding  of  these  actions  and  their  causes.    As  long 
as  the  actions  are  considered  only  from  without,  every 
A        endeavor  for  improvement  must  remain  superficial,  like 
a\       the  treatment  of  a  patient  by  a  quack  who  deals  only 
B  with  symptoms  and  does  not  enter  into  the  origin  of  the 

.  iK  >  disease.    But  if  the  psychological  conditions  of  activity 
p '\k  are  clearly  understood  in  general,  then  it  is  easy  to  find 
y        T«x  every  special  case  the  most  favorable  conditions  and 
/  the  means  to  improve  the  situation.    The  interest  will 

center  on  the  one  side  in  the  problems  of  learning  and 
training,  on  the  other  side  in  the  problems  of  the  most 
favorable  conditions  for  commercial  and  industrial  activ- 
ity. In  both  spheres  the  practical  discussion  is  essen- 
tially nothing  but  an  application  of  the  principles  which 
we  have  discussed. 

However,  before  we  turn  to  these  two  groups  of  spe- 
cific questions,  we  may  consider  one  more  consequence  of 
the  theory  of  the  will,  namely,  that  change  of  activity  by 
which  the  action  is  performed  under  the  influence  of  a 
suggestion.  It  has  distinct  practical  importance  and  we 
may  therefore  treat  the  theory  of  suggestion  here  as  an 
appendix  to  the  theory  of  the  will. 

TEST  QUESTIONS 

1.  How  would  you  define  the  will? 

2.  How  does  the  modern  view  of  the  relationship  of  mental 
states  to  bodily  actions  differ  from  the  older  belief? 

3.  Distinguish  between  automatic  actions  and  will-actions. 
"Which  are  used  most  ? 

4.  "W^hen  do  we  really  have  a  will-action  ? 


Impulse  and  Will  149 

.5.  What  is  the  tendency  of  an  oft-repeated  will-action?  What 
practical  bearing  has  this  upon  industrial  activities? 

6.  What  are  abnormal  actions  ?    How  are  they  produced  ? 

7.  How  is  will-power  developed  ? 

8.  How  may  will-actions  become  automatic?    What  are  the 
economies  of  such  actions? 


CHAPTER  XI 
suggestion 

Internal  and  External  Sources  of  Ideas 

We  saw  that  an  action  is  first  of  all  the  direct  automatic 
outcome  of  ideas  and  that  particular  importance  is  at- 
tached to  those  ideas  in  which  we  are  imagining  the  ends 
of  possible  actions.  Such  an  idea  of  an  end  may  be 
brought  to  our  mind  by  a  proposition  from  without.  We 
motor  along  our  road  and  see  there  a  guide-post  saying 
that  the  right-hand  road  leads  to  our  destination.  The 
idea  of  the  movement  of  turning  to  the  right  enters  our 
mind  and  we  change  the  direction  of  the  car. 

The  mental  mechanism  involved  is  rather  complex,  but 
it  can  easily  be  traced.  The  guide-post  awakes  in  us 
confidence  that  it  is  authorized  and  helpful  advice  which 
is  offered,  and  therefore  we  feel  that  it  is  in  accordance 
with  the  interests  of  our  personality  to  stick  to  the  pro- 
posed idea.  The  image  of  turning  to  the  right  is  wel- 
comed accordingly  as  harmonious  with  the  needs  of  the 
self.  It  becomes  accentuated  and  focused  in  our  mind 
and  through  the  well-trained  associational  connections 
the  idea  of  turning  sets  the  motor  centers  of  the  appro- 
priate muscles  into  action.  We  leave  the  forward  road 
and  steer  to  the  right. 

But  let  us  take  the  case  that  a  friend  is  in  our  car  who 
tells  us  that  he  positively  knows  that  the  road  to  the 
right  is  being  repaired  and  cannot  be  used  by  motor  cars 
and  that  the  only  possible  way  is  straight  ahead.    A  con- 

150 


Suggestion  151 

flict  of  the  ideas  of  possible  actions  is  now  going  on  in 
our  mind.  If  we  are  convinced  that  our  friend  has  the 
interest  of  our  personality  in  mind  and  that  his  powers 
of  observation  and  of  memory  are  alive  and  that  he  is  not 
confusing  earlier  experiences,  we  shall  feel  that  his  pro- 
posed idea  is  more  completely  in  agreement  with  the  in- 
terests of  our  self,  and  we  shall  drive  straight  ahead. 
This  is  the  typical  case  of  a  normal  rivalry  of  proposed 
ideas,  a  rivalry  in  which  the  one  idea  will  become  efficient 
which  appears  most  in  agreement  with  the  setting  of  our 
personality  and  its  aims.  For  that  purpose  many  asso- 
ciations may  have  to  be  called  to  help  in  our  dilemma. 
During  our  drive  we  might  not  be  satisfied  with  the 
advice  of  the  guide-post  or  with  the  advice  of  our  friend, 
but  we  might  back  the  one  or  the  other  idea  or  both  by 
secondary  associations.  "We  might  remember  that  some- 
one else  told  us  of  those  repairs.  On  the  other  hand  we 
might  think  that  if  the  repairs  were  going  on,  some  an- 
nouncement would  be  made  there  at  the  crossroad.  We 
might  also  remember  that  our  friend  is  sometimes  in- 
clined to  erroneous  reports  through  confusions  of  his 
memory.  In  short,  there  may  be  a  battle  of  the  rival 
associations,  but  both  sides  have  perfectly  fair  chances. 
The  situation  would  not  be  different  if  only  one  of  the 
two  propositions  came  from  without  and  the  other  from 
within.  If  I  have  gone  along  that  road  repeatedly  and 
have  found  out  that  the  way  to  the  right  was  the  correct 
one,  then  I  do  not  need  the  guide-post.  My  consciousness 
furnishes  the  idea  of  the  end ;  I  turn  to  the  right,  guided 
by  my  own  intention.  If  now  my  friend  interferes  with 
his  proposition,  I  can  soberly  balance  my  idea  and  his, 
and  can  compare  my  arguments  and  his. 


152  Business  Psychology 

Weakening  Internal  Resistance 

But  let  us  carry  this  case  a  little  farther.  Fancy  that 
I  am  extremely  tired.  After  a  poor  night  and  a  long  drive 
I  am  exhausted  and  give  little  attention  to  the  ideas  which 
cross  my  mind.  When  I  approach  the  crossroad,  I  should 
naturally  turn  to  the  right,  but  my  friend  insistently 
says,  ''You  must  go  the  straight  road."  His  words  bring 
that  idea  of  going  ahead  strongly  to  my  mind  while,  be- 
cause of  my  state  of  overfatigue,  my  own  associations 
are  weakened ;  they  do  not  come  readily  to  my  conscious- 
ness and  the  result  is  that  I  do  not  offer  the  opposition 
which  naturally  would  have  come  up.  I  accept  the  idea 
of  action  which  my  friend  threw  out,  and  automatically 
the  proposed  idea  leads  to  my  activity ;  the  normal  resist- 
ance which  I  ought  to  furnish  from  my  own  resources 
fails  to  come  forward,  as  I  am  too  careless  on  account  of 
my  fatigue. 

Fatigue,  however,  is  not  the  only  condition  under  which 
such  a  result  may  occur.  I  may  be  a  very  credulous  per- 
son and  may  have  an  unusual  amount  of  coniSdence  in  the 
superior  wisdom  of  my  friend.  This  would  express  itself 
in  a  frame  of  mind  in  which  I  would  suppress  from  the 
start  all  the  ideas  of  actions  which  were  contrary  to  those 
which  he  proposes.  The  idea  of  action  which  he  brings 
before  my  mind  would  then  work  almost  like  a  command 
which  I  do  not  resist  but  which  I  carry  out  mechanically. 

We  may  think  of  still  another  case.  If  I  were  that  kind 
of  person,  I  might  have  taken  a  few  drinks.  By  the  in- 
fluence of  the  alcohol  the  resistance  power  of  my  brain 
mechanism  would  have  been  decreased.  Even  without 
particular  confidence  in  my  friend,  I  should  have  accepted 
his  proposition,  simply  because  the  alcoholized  brain  cells 
would  have  been  unable  to  bring  up  the  opposing  ideas. 


Suggestion  153 

The  result  would  have  been  that  the  words  of  my  friend 
would  have  worked  as  if  they  advised  the  only  possible 
action,  and  mechanically  I  should  have  accepted  his 
proposition. 

In  such  an  exhausted  or  overcredulous  or  drunken  per- 
sonality we  no  longer  have  the  full  process  of  normal 
will-action  with  the  normal  interplay  of  motives.  Any- 
thing which  is  proposed  forces  itself  on  the  mind  and 
excludes  the  ideas  of  opposite  action  which  otherwise  the 
situation  would  bring  to  consciousness.  To  be  sure,  this 
has  its  limits.  If  the  driver,  however  exhausted  or  cred- 
ulous, is  told  by  his  friend  to  go  straight  ahead  when  it 
is  evident  that  the  straight  way  would  lead  into  a  river, 
the  brain  would  find  its  resistance.  The  sight  of  the 
imminent  danger  would  throw  the  resisting  idea  sharply 
into  consciousness  and  would  be  strong  enough  to  over- 
come the  perilous  advice  after  all.  If  the  alcohol  poison- 
ing was  very  strong,  even  such  a  dangerous  situation 
might  not  have  power  enough  to  excite  sufficient  resistance 
to  the  impulse  for  the  proposed  action.  The  drunken 
man  sees  that  river,  but  it  does  not  awake  the  normal 
associations.  It  appears  to  him  in  that  moment  like  a 
joke  to  plunge  the  car  into  the  water.  The  lack  of  resist- 
ance by  opposing  ideas  may  accordingly  pass  through 
many  degrees.  The  resistance  may  have  suffered  very 
little  from  a  slight  degree  of  fatigue  or  may  have  suf- 
fered tremendously  from  a  narcotization  of  the  brain. 

Nature  of  Suggestibility 

A  proposition  to  action  which  is  brought  to  the  mind 
in  such  a  way  that  the  idea  of  the  opposite  action  is  more 
or  less  suppressed  is  called  by  the  psychologist  a  *' sug- 
gestion." The  state  of  mind  in  which  an  individual  is 
especially  ready  to   accept  such  suggestions  is  called 


154  Business  Psychology 

"suggestibility."  This  suggestibility  can  pass  through 
many  degrees  of  strength.  Human  beings  differ  with  re- 
gard to  their  suggestibility  anyhow.  We  all  know  persons 
who  are  very  much  inclined  to  do  whatever  the  latest 
adviser  tells  them,  w^hile  others  represent  the  opposite 
extreme,  are  stubborn  and  always  unwilling  to  accept 
any  advice.  The  psychologist  even  recognizes  negatively 
suggestible  persons  who  feel  an  impulse  always  to  do  the 
opposite  of  what  is  proposed  to  them.  But  after  all  they 
are  exceptional.  The  normal  situation  is  for  a  proposi- 
tion to  awake  an  impulse  but  at  the  same  time  it  awakes 
the  idea  of  possible  arguments  in  opposition,  if  the  situa- 
tion demands  them,  and  only  the  very  suggestible  persons 
are  without  these  opposing  ideas. 

Yet  every  one  of  us,  even  without  alcohol  or  narcotics 
and  without  overfatigue,  may  pass  through  different 
stages  of  suggestibility  at  various  times.  It  is  well 
known,  for  instance,  that  we  all  are  more  suggestible  in  a 
strongly  emotional  state.  Hope  and  fear  make  us  very 
suggestible.  Anything  which  impresses  us,  like  a  church 
service  or  a  court  trial,  makes  us  more  than  normally 
willing  to  accept  the  propositions  which  come  from  with- 
out and  to  offer  no  resistance  by  opposed  ideas  from 
within.  The  lawyer  makes  many  a  witness  aflSrm  a  state- 
ment to  which  he  might  have  objected  in  ordinary  conver- 
sation. But  the  solemnity  of  the  action  has  brought  his 
mind  into  an  oversuggestible  state  in  which  the  opposing 
ideas  are  inhibited  and  the  ideas  which  the  lawyer  pro- 
poses are  accepted  without  resistance. 

Hypnotism 

The  suggestibility  can  certainly  be  strongly  influenced 
from  without.  We  can  make  a  person  more  suggestible 
and  thus  bring  him  into  a  mental  state  in  which  he  is 


Suggestion  155 

more  willing  to  accept  our  propositions  on  acconnt  of  the 
decreased  resistance  by  opposing  ideas.  The  strongest 
possible  intrusion  of  this  kind  is  hypnotization.  There  is 
nothing  mystical  in  hypnotization,  and  it  is  not  difficult  to 
hypnotize  a  person,  however  harmful  it  may  be  to  do  so. 
The  only  legitimate  aim  of  hypnotization  is  medical  treat- 
ment. If,  for  instance,  a  patient  has  an  irresistible  tend- 
ency to  use  morphine  or  cocaine,  the  mere  saying  to  him 
that  he  ought  not  to  use  it  remains  fruitless.  His  crav- 
ing for  the  injection  is  stronger  than  any  proposition  of 
the  physician.  But  if  the  physician  hypnotizes  him  skill- 
fully, he  may  increase  the  suggestibility  of  the  patient  so 
strongly  that  the  mere  suggestion  that  he  will  not  take 
morphine  injections  again  may  indeed  be  stronger  than 
the  acquired  desire  and  may  bring  back  the  victim  to 
normal,  healthy  life. 

This  increase  of  suggestibility  is  indeed  the  most  es- 
sential feature  of  the  whole  hypnotic  state.  It  is  pro- 
duced by  applying  faint  stimulations  to  the  senses  of  the 
person  to  be  hypotized  and  is  much  aided  by  appropriate 
words.  The  physician  tells  his  subject  that  he  will  fall 
asleep,  that  he  feels  tiredness  creeping  over  him,  that  a 
general  relaxation  will  set  in,  and  so  on,  and  slowly  the 
hypnotic  state  takes  hold  of  the  mind,  a  state  which 
stands  halfway  between  waking  and  sleeping.  No  special 
energy  flows  from  physician  to  patient.  The  sense-im- 
pressions and  words  alone  perform  the  work.  In  any 
case,  as  soon  as  the  hypnotization  is  accomplished — and 
with  skillful  operation  it  can  be  accomplished  with  any- 
one— the  power  of  mental  resistance  is  broken.  If  the 
hypnotizer  were  to  tell  the  hypnotized  person  that  he 
ought  to  hand  him  his  pocketbook,  the  idea  that  that  is 
a  scandalous  theft  would  not  enter  the  mind  of  the  victim 
at  all.    The  idea  that  he  ought  to  give  that  pocketbook 


156  Business  Psychology 

to  the  man  who  asks  for  it  would  remain  uncontradicted 
in  his  mind.  More  than  that,  as  all  resistance  fails, 
tlie  hypnotized  person  would  even  associate  all  kinds  of 
illusory  reasons  why  it  is  better  to  hand  all  his  money 
to  the  hypnotizer. 

The  state  of  hypnotization  represents  the  climax  of 
suggestibility.  But  there  are  many  means  far  short  of 
hypnotization  which  create  milder  degrees  of  increased 
suggestibility.  Yet  they  may  have  considerable  influence 
in  forcing  one  man 's  intentions  on  the  will  of  other  men. 
If  it  were  possible  and  legitimate  to  hypnotize  everyone, 
even  against  his  will,  without  medical  reasons,  business 
success  might  easily  be  attained,  at  least  for  the  instant. 
The  salesman  would  hypnotize  his  customer  and  would 
tell  him  that  he  ought  to  buy  just  this  pearl  necklace 
which  he  is  showing  him.  The  command  to  buy  the  costly 
jewels  would  be  received  as  an  idea  which  finds  no  oppo- 
site associations  in  the  mind  and  which  must  therefore 
discharge  itself  in  the  act  of  buying  the  chain,  while  in 
the  normal  state  of  the  mind  at  once  the  idea  would  arise 
that  the  purchase  is  too  expensive  or  that  it  is  a  super- 
fluous luxury.  These  antagonistic  ideas  would  be  strong 
enough  to  stir  up  the  opposite  action  of  refusing  to  buy. 
As  a  matter  of  course  the  customer  cannot  be  hypnotized. 
And  if,  as  has  happened,  an  agreement  to  buy  has  been 
made  under  hypnotic  conditions,  it  is  a  clear  act  of  fraud 
which  has  only  criminal  interest 

Practical  Uses  op  Suggestion 

This  does  not  mean,  however,  that  the  merchant  has  to 
abstain  entirely  from  such  suggestive  influences.  If  we 
consider  an  entirely  cool  and  indifferent  offering  without 
any  effort  to  influence  the  mind  of  the  customer  as  the  one 
extreme  and  hypnotization  as  the  other  extreme,  we  must 


Suggestion  157 

recognize  that  there  are  very  many  steps  between  them. 
Nobody  has  a  right,  because  the  one  extreme  of  sugges- 
tion, hypnosis,  is  out  of  the  question,  to  demand  that 
therefore  the  other  extreme,  entire  abstaining  from  sug- 
gestion, be  carried  out.  We  must  not  forget  that  sug- 
gestive influence  from  man  to  man  is  nothing  abnormal  or 
pathological. 

Suggestion  plays  a  tremendous  role  in  every  important 
sphere  of  social  life.  Education  depends  to  a  high  degree 
on  suggestion.  The  teacher  must  take  hold  of  the  child 's 
mind  so  that  the  ideas  implanted  be  accepted  without 
arousing  the  opposite  ideas.  Politics  and  religion  can- 
not be  thought  of  without  the  working  of  suggestive  ener- 
gies. Nor  would  art  and  literature  ever  influence  us  so 
deeply  if  all  were  brought  down  to  sober  reasoning  and 
arguing.  The  true  artistic  effect  and  the  impression  of 
poetry  involve  that  suggestible  state  of  mind  in  which  the 
offering  of  the  artist  is  received  as  a  reality.  But  this  is 
possible  only  if  the  opposite  idea,  namely,  that  all  these 
stories  and  all  these  pictures  are  not  true  but  are  inven- 
tions, is  entirely  inhibited  in  the  reader 's  and  the  specta- 
tor's  mind.  All  the  means  of  the  artist's  technique  have 
the  very  aim  to  make  the  mind  more  suggestible  and  to 
prepare  it  for  the  acceptance  of  the  illusory  truth  which 
the  book  or  the  painting  suggests.  Hence  if  the  poet  and 
the  artist,  the  politician  and  the  minister,  the  lawyer  and, 
above  all,  the  educator,  must  be  expected  to  exert  sug- 
gestive influences,  it  cannot  appear  wrong  for  the  sales- 
man or  for  the  advertiser  or  for  anyone  who  aims  toward 
practical  success  in  the  world  of  conunerce  and  industry 
to  make  reasonable  use  of  the  powers  of  suggestion. 

Suggestion  in  Salesmanship 

The  salesman's  aim  is  indeed  to  influence  his  cus- 
tomer's mind  in  such  a  way  that  the  idea  of  the  purchase 


158  Business  Psychology 

does  not  find  the  opposing  forces  overwlielming.  From 
all  the  preceding  discussions  we  understand  now  that  this 
alone  is  the  point.  The  aim  is  not  to  connect  the  idea  of 
the  purchase  with  the  appropriate  action,  because  we 
have  seen  that  this  connection  exists  in  the  mind  nerve- 
system  anyhow.  The  idea  has  the  natural  tendency  to 
express  itself  in  the  fit-action.  No  special  initiation  by 
a  will  behind  the  mind  is  needed.  But  this  action  is  not 
performed  because  opposite  ideas  of  saving  our  money 
or  of  seeking  some  more  suitable  goods  or  of  disliking  the 
offered  wares  or  of  postponing  the  purchase  have  still 
stronger  effectiveness  on  the  system  of  possible  actions. 
Nothing  is  necessary  but  to  suppress  those  rivals,  and  to 
do  that  three  ways  are  open.  One  way  is  to  strengthen 
the  suggestive  power  of  the  idea  by  re-enforcing  it;  the 
second  to  weaken  the  opposing  idea  directly  by  under- 
raining  it ;  and  the  third  way  is  to  heighten  the  suggesti- 
bility of  the  customer  and  thus  to  strengthen  the  sug- 
gested idea  and  to  weaken  the  opposite  idea  indirectly 
through  the  suggestible  attitude.  All  three  methods  can 
easily  be  combined. 

If  we  think  first  of  the  case  of  the  salesman,  the  method 
of  re-enforcing  the  proffered  idea  of  purchase  can  be 
applied  in  many  forms.  Everything  which  is  said  in 
praise  of  the  goods  works  in  this  direction.  The  praise 
can  be  linked  with  any  appeals  to  the  feeling  of  interest 
of  the  personality.  If  it  can  be  shown  that  it  would  add 
to  the  distinction  of  the  buyer  or  to  his  health  or  to  his 
social  standing  or  to  his  safety  or  to  his  amusement,  or 
that  it  would  give  especial  pleasure  to  those  for  whom 
he  buys  it,  the  feeling  elements  will  strengthen  the  ap- 
peal. But  the  same  effect  is  reached  by  bringing  the 
offered  goods  strongly  into  the  focus  of  his  sensory  at- 
tention.   Then  the  salesman  shows  the  article  in  different 


Suggestion  159 

positions,  prepares  a  background  which  by  the  contrast 
brings  it  into  striking  effect  or  displays  many  similar  ob- 
jects so  that  each  may  support  the  effect  of  the  others, 
and  pictures  the  pleasant  consequences  of  its  use.  Skill- 
ful movements  can  aid  this  effort.  They  help  to  concen- 
trate the  mind  on  the  one  thing  while  careless,  scattered 
movements  of  the  hands  draw  attention  hither  and 
thither  and  diminish  the  effectiveness  of  the  proposition. 

The  negative  effect  by  which  the  opposing  idea  is  to  be 
weakened  is  also  reached  directly  by  associations.  The 
idea  of  the  great  expense  of  any  rival  article,  or  of  its 
dangers  to  health  or  safety,  or  its  lack  of  fashion  or 
charm,  can  be  pointed  out.  But  here  too  the  sense  effect 
must  be  considered.  As  soon  as  the  purchaser's  atten- 
tion is  more  or  less  focused  on  the  one  object  which  he  is 
probably  to  buy,  it  would  be  a  mistake  to  show  him  any 
others  which  would  oppose  that  first  impulse  and 
would  weaken  it.  Any  interfering  impression  must  be 
eliminated. 

But  the  chief  effect  may  be  expected  from  that  third 
factor,  the  increase  of  suggestibility.  Everything  which 
awakes  a  feeling  of  sympathy,  of  personal  interest  in  the 
speaker,  of  bodily  comfort,  of  harmony  with  the  sur- 
roundings, of  trust  and  instinctive  confidence,  heightens 
the  suggestible  mood.  On  the  other  hand,  whatever  irri- 
tates must  decrease  the  suggestibility.  The  customer  in 
a  comfortable  chair  in  cosy  surroundings  in  a  store  which 
suggests  harmony  with  his  particular  standards  of  fash- 
ion, served  with  politeness,  easily  enters  into  that  state 
which  lies  midway  between  indifference  and  slight  hypno- 
sis. It  is  a  mood  of  readiness  to  receive  propositions  to 
action  and  to  inhibit  all  opposing  ideas.  The  voice,  the 
words,  the  manners,  of  the  salesman  will  contribute 
greatly  to  this  resetting  of  mind  and  nervous  system. 


160  Business  Psychology 

True  hypnotism  is  secured  by  monotonous  sounds,  slight 
strain  of  converging  the  eyes,  soft  touch  sensations,  and 
so  on.  The  effect  probably  results  from  a  contraction  of 
blood  vessels  in  certain  parts  of  the  brain.  In  a  quite 
similar  way  the  mild,  insistent,  somewhat  monotonous 
words  of  the  clerk  can  affect  the  listener.  The  comfort- 
able surroundings  produce  moreover  a  general  relaxation 
which  also  strengthens  the  suggestibility. 

There  are,  however,  individual  differences,  and  the 
skilled  salesman  will  become  aware  of  the  best  point  of 
attack  in  his  effort  to  increase  the  suggestibility.  Many 
minds  are  easily  captured  by  a  certain  enthusiasm  of  the 
speaker  which  forces  on  the  hearer  an  imitative  impulse, 
and  the  more  he  is  carried  away  the  more  he  loses  the 
power  of  resistance  and  enters  into  a  state  of  increased 
suggestibility.  The  personal  element  is  most  effective 
among  the  means  of  awaking  sympathy.  But  again  in- 
dividual differences  must  not  be  disregarded.  An  air  of 
confidential  intimacy  is  very  impressive  to  some,  and 
awakes  almost  negative  suggestibility  in  others.  The  at- 
titude of  superior  wisdom  breaks  down  the  resistance  of 
ideas  with  not  a  few,  but  may  irritate  other  types  of 
minds.  Good-natured  humor  seems  to  have  chances  with 
the  greatest  number.  The  skillful  salesman  will  not 
only  make  use  of  all  three  methods,  re-enforcing  his  sug- 
gestion, breaking  down  the  counter-suggestions,  and 
strengthening  the  suggestibility,  but  he  will  in  every  case 
recognize  the  particular  methods  which  appeal  to  the 
individual  customer. 

It  is  evident  that  such  methods  can  be  misused,  and  the 
psychologist  who  describes  the  mechanism  of  efficient 
methods  would  overstep  the  limits  of  his  function  if  he 
were  to  advise  the  use  of  such  schemes  without  reserve. 
But  the  business  man  knows  anyhow  that  it  would  be  poor 


Suggestion  161 

psychology  to  misuse  the  method  of  suggestion  for  a  sale 
of  goods  which  awakes  regret  when  the  spell  of  the  in- 
creased suggestibility  is  over.  A  good  sale  must  always 
be  equally  in  the  interest  of  buyer  and  seller.  But  within 
reasonable  limits  sldllful  suggestion  does  indeed  help  the 
buyer.  Moreover  the  psychologist's  interest  is  not  con- 
fined to  the  methods  which  make  suggestions  effective, 
but  turns  also  to  the  methods  by  which  the  buyer  may 
protect  himself  against  purchases  for  which  he  will  be 
sorry  afterward.  In  a  time  which  favors  personal  waste 
and  ostentation,  it  is  surely  a  very  important  psycho- 
logical problem  how  to  strengthen  the  mind  against  the 
temptation  which  the  displays  and  the  suggestive  effects  of 
the  stores  offer  to  the  population.  But  to  understand  well 
the  mechanism  of  suggestion  means  to  understand  at  the 
same  time  the  mechanism  of  the  checks  upon  it. 

Suggestion  in  Advektising 

Every  advertisement  in  a  sense  repeats  the  methods 
of  the  salesman.  To  be  sure,  the  salesman  has  the  ad- 
vantage of  a  successive  development  of  various  stages 
ajid  of  an  adjustment  to  the  responses  of  the  individual 
purchaser.  On  the  other  hand,  while  the  salesman  ap- 
peals to  one,  the  advertisement  may  reach  millions. 
Everywhere  it  has  to  awake  the  impulse  to  buy  and  can 
strengthen  this  impulse  by  every  means  which  aids  the 
suggestive  power  of  the  proposition  and  strengthens  the 
general  suggestibility.  It  is  well  known  that  even  such 
simple  devices  as  the  imperative  form  of  an  advertise- 
ment can  force  the  suggestion  on  a  reader.  But  when 
such  forms  become  standardized,  they  lose  their  effective- 
ness and  new  methods  must  be  sought  +o  give  to  the  offer 
that  inner  force  by  which  the  opposite  ideas  are  inhibited 
in  the  reader 's  mind.    No  doubt,  repetition,  enlargement, 


162  Busimess  Psychology 

pictures,  colors,  borders,  skillful  appeals  to  prejudio©B, 
emotions,  and  interests,  can  all  be  helpful  in  the  re-en- 
forcement of  the  suggestion.  To  make  the  action  easy  is 
another  well-known  little  aid.  The  coupon  to  be  cut  out 
from  the  paper  and  filled  in  is  typical  of  this  group  of 
practical  schemes.  It  removes  the  resistance  which  the 
laziness  of  the  reader  may  offer  to  the  impulse  to  buy, 
and  at  the  same  time  focuses  the  scattered  impulses  in 
one  definite  direction. 

Self-Suggestions 

As  a  last  word  concerning  suggestion  in  practical  af- 
fairs, it  may  be  emphasized  that  we  can  give  suggestions 
to  ourselves.  What  we  really  mean  by  such  autosugges- 
tions is  however  not  only  that  we  are  the  givers  of  the 
suggestion  but  that  by  our  own  effort  our  mind  is  brought 
into  a  state  in  which  our  own  plans  of  action  become  un- 
usually effective.  Under  ordinary  circumstances  our 
will-intention  may  map  out  a  piece  of  work,  but  when  it 
comes  to  action  opposite  motives  may  be  stronger.  We 
may  have  planned  to  do  some  extra  work  in  the  evening 
and  to  stay  in  the  office  with  the  ledger  over  the  dinner 
hour.  But  in  the  evening  the  appetite  for  the  meal  works 
as  a  stimulus  in  the  contrary  direction  or  we  are  thinking 
that  we  might  go  to  the  theatre.  The  idea  at  first  creeps 
into  the  mind  and  awakes  a  feeling;  the  feeling  strength- 
ens the  idea ;  and  finally  it  reaches  such  intensity  that  the 
impulse  to  leave  the  office  becomes  stronger  than  the  im- 
pulse to  fulfill  the  plan  which  we  had  made  out  a  few 
hours  before.  If  someone  had  hypnotized  us  at  noontime 
and  given  us  the  suggestion  that  we  stay  through  the 
evening  at  our  work,  that  desire  for  the  theatre  or  the 
meal  would  have  been  inhibited,  the  proposed  plan  of 


Suggestion  163 

action  would  have  overwhelmed  every  opponent  in  ©ur 
mind,  and  we  should  have  willingly  staid. 

Instead  of  being  hypnotized  or  instead  of  receiving  any 
influence  which  might  increase  our  suggestibility  from 
without,  we  can  exert  such  an  influence  on  ourselves.  We 
can  do  it  in  the  form  of  a  firm  resolution,  like  a  pledge 
given  to  ourselves.  Such  a  resolution  is  a  resetting  of 
our  mind,  an  opening  of  certain  brain  paths  and  a  closing 
of  others,  and  the  effect  is  exactly  that  of  hypnotization, 
namely,  a  greater  readiness  to  carry  out  one  group  of 
propositions  and  a  greater  power  to  suppress  the  oppo- 
site impulses.  If  we  had  given  to  our  minds  that  shock 
of  firm  resolution  at  noontime,  the  little  discomfort  of 
appetite  and  the  little  desire  for  the  theatre  would  not 
have  reached  our  attention  at  all.  They  would  have  re- 
mained in  the  outskirts  of  consciousness ;  they  would  have 
been  sufiiciently  inhibited  not  to  overcome  our  resolution 
to  stick  to  our  work. 

But  a  similar  result  might  have  been  reached  in  an- 
other way  which  has  still  more  the  character  of  hypnoti- 
zation. Instead  of  stirring  up  the  mind  and  creating  a 
resetting  by  the  resolution  we  can  lull  our  mind  into  a 
kind  of  vague,  half -dreamy  state.  As  soon  as  we  produce 
such  an  almost  sleep-like  condition,  we  must  say  to  our- 
selves that  we  shall  carry  out  this  or  that  action.  If  we 
repeat  this  inner  promise  several  times,  it  sinks  into  the 
deeper  stratum  of  the  mind,  gets  hold  of  our  inner  set- 
ting, and  gives  to  our  later  actions  an  energy  which  they 
would  not  have  possessed  without  this  artificial  help. 

The  minutes  just  before  sleep  comes  in  the  evening  are 
especially  favorable  for  such  autosuggestion.  Especially 
men  whose  will-energy  is  weak  and  who  do  not  succeed 
in  their  business  life  because  they  lack  energy  may  profit 
from  such  autosuggestions  in  a  mental  lull.   Yet  normally 


164  Business  Psychology 

the  way  more  to  be  recommended  is  that  of  the  sharp 
inner  resolution.  It  is  wise  indeed  not  to  leave  every 
struggle  of  will-impulses  to  the  decisions  of  the  moment 
but  to  fortify  one 's  own  will  beforehand  by  such  definite 
pledges  which  give  strength  to  the  personal  character  and 
make  the  overcoming  of  distractions  and  temptations 
easier. 

TEST  QUESTIONS 

1.  What  is  meant  by  a  suggestion? 

2.  How  do  fatigue,  credulousness,  and  intoxioation  affect  our 
power  of  control! 

3.  Why  are  some  men  particularly  subject  to  suggestive  in- 
fluences in  a  court  room  ? 

4.  "VNTiy  do  many  judges  and  clergymen  continue  to  wear 
robes? 

5.  What  is  hypnotism  ? 

6.  Enumerate  some  practical  uses  of  suggestion  in  business 
affairs. 

7.  What  is  meant  by  '  *  the  idea  of  an  act  resulting  in  that  act 
unless  inhibited  by  an  opposing  idea"?  Of  what  practical  impor- 
tance is  this  to  a  salesman  ? 

8.  Why  should  the  consumer  understand  something  of  the 
laws  of  suggestion  ? 

9.  How  can  a  man  use  autosuggestion  to  increase  his  effi- 
ciency ? 


CHAPTER  Xn 
the  acquirement  of  abilntes 

Physical  and  Mental  Unity 

Business  life  is  activity,  and  every  activity  beyond  the 
immediate  automatic  movements  must  be  learned.  How 
far  can  psychology  contribute  to  an  understanding  of  the 
best  methods  to  acquire  the  ability  for  effective  action? 
But  here  especially  we  must  not  forget  that  no  sharp  limit 
exists  between  the  bodily  and  the  mental  actions.  The 
contractions  of  muscles  are  more  prominent  in  some  ac- 
tivities than  in  others  but  there  is  never  any  activity 
which  does  not  contain  both  bodily  and  mental  functions. 
The  workingman  who,  to  feed  a  machine,  has  to  learn  a 
complicated  co-operation  of  foot  and  arm  and  finger 
action  is  more  conscious  of  this  bodily  element  than  the 
bookkeeper  who  adds  figures  or  than  the  salesman  who 
explains  the  qualities  of  his  goods.  Yet  even  in  these 
cases  it  is  not  enough  to  point  to  the  muscle  contractions 
in  writing  with  a  pen  or  in  speaking  the  words.  No,  the 
adding  of  the  figures  themselves  or  the  choosing  of  the 
right  arguments  is  a  personal  activity  which  concerns 
mind  and  body  together. 

The  laws  and  rules  which  control  the  acquisition  of 
abilities  are  therefore  practically  the  same  for  the  so- 
called  physical  and  the  so-called  mental  operations.  We 
must  learn  how  to  serve  customers  or  how  to  administer 
a  shop  or  how  to  manage  a  railway  according  to  the  same 
principles  of  learning  and  training  as  those  which  govern 

165 


166  Business  Psychology 

the  study  of  typewriting  or  telegraphing  or  weaving. 
And  these  again  are  hardly  different  from  the  methods  by 
which  the  child  learns  to  walk,  to  talk,  to  read,  to  write. 

Leabning  by  Repetition 

The  whole  process  is  in  every  case  complicated.  We 
may  consider  first  one  element  which  enters  into  the 
learning  process  every  time,  but  which  surely  is  not  in 
itself  sufficient.  It  is  only  one  element,  but  an  indispen- 
sable one.  All  learning  needs  repetition.  To  repeat  the 
process  frequently  is  the  chief  condition  for  the  acquir- 
ing of  a  reliable  ability.  Offhand  we  might  say  that  if  we 
perform  a  movement  we  can  do  it  more  and  more  effi- 
ciently the  more  often  we  repeai  it. 

A  definite  experiment  may  indicate  the  character  of 
the  effect.  A  weight  of  three  pounds  was  lifted  with  the 
middle  finger  once  a  second  as  long  as  possible  while  the 
other  fingers  were  held  immovable.  The  ability  to  lift  it 
showed  an  average  of  48  in  the  first  week,  in  the  second 
of  60,  in  the  third  of  86,  in  the  fourth  of  116,  in  the  fifth 
of  136.  This  result  of  repetition  is  not  lost  by  a  pause. 
When  the  experimenter  had  reached  this  effect  of  train- 
ing after  five  weeks  he  interrupted  his  exercises  for  three 
months.  When  he  took  up  the  movements  again,  the 
average  of  the  first  week  was  then  not  at  the  low  level  of 
his  beginning,  but  was  at  once  95.  The  training  was  car- 
ried on  again  for  ten  weeks,  and  again  interrupted  for 
three  months.  The  third  period  began  at  once  with  an 
average  ability  of  lifting  the  weight  105  times,  and  seven 
weeks  later  the  power  to  lift  the  weight  186  times  was 
reached.  A  fourth  period  began  with  169  and  climbed 
quickly  to  192.  The  gain  which  repetition  of  movement 
brings  is  thus  carried  through  periods  of  months  of  rest 
with  relatively  small  loss. 


Acquirement  of  Ahilities  167 

Ikfluencb  of  Rbpbtition  on  the  Nervous  System 

Such  movement  experiments  are  important  for  us  be- 
cause gain  and  loss  are  not  to  be  sought  in  the  muscles 
themselves  Ihit  distinctly  in  the  nervous  system.  The 
brain  centers  which  control  those  finger  movements  are 
alone  responsible  for  the  effect  of  practice.  They  become 
trained  by  the  repetition.  It  is  therefore  not  surprising 
that  similar  experiments  have  shown  that  the  effect  of 
repeated  action  is  carried  over  to  the  symmetrical  muscle 
groups  of  the  other  half  of  the  body  and  also  to  neighbor- 
ing muscles.  In  lifting  the  weight  with  the  middle  finger 
of  the  right  hand  the  middle  finger  of  the  left  hand  gets 
its  training,  because  the  brain  centers  of  the  two  corre- 
sponding organs  stand  in  immediate  relation.  Any  sys- 
tematic training  of  one  muscle  group  is  therefore  to  a 
certain  degree  a  strengthening  of  all.  To  be  sure,  the 
experiment  demonstrates  that  this  is  true  only  within  cer- 
tain limits.  If  excessive  efforts  are  demanded  for  a  par- 
ticular muscle  group  the  one-sided  training  of  the  one 
brain  center  saps  the  energy  of  others  and  ultimately 
decreases  the  power  of  the  other  motor  parts  of  the  brain. 
The  important  point  for  us  is  that  repetition  of  action 
improves  the  ability  to  perform  it  and  improves  it  by 
training  not  the  muscles  but  the  nerve  paths  in  the  brain. 

The  same  laws  which  control  the  simple  motor  impulse 
for  the  lifting  of  a  weight  are  therefore  efficient  also 
where  a  more  complicated  task  is  demanded  from  the 
nerve  centers.  A  careful  investigation,  for  instance, 
traced  the  learning  process  in  tossing  and  catching  balls. 
Two  balls  were  kept  going  with  one  handy  one  being  re- 
ceived and  thrown  while  the  other  was  in  the  air.  Six 
men  took  part  in  the  experiment  and  the  programme  con- 
sisted of  ten  trials,  the  subject  in  each  case  continuing 


168  Business  Psychology 

the  throwing  until  he  failed  to  catch  one  or  both  of  the 
balls.  In  such  a  complex  action  in  which  a  general  co- 
operation of  almost  all  the  muscles  of  the  body  is  required 
the  conditions  of  success  are  much  more  variable.  The 
result  showed  one  phenomenon  which  can  be  found  in  all 
such  learning  experiments,  namely,  that  the  progress  is 
at  first  slow  and  then  quicker,  until  the  highest  point  of 
efficiency  is  reached.  But  experiments  of  this  type,  just 
because  they  are  extremely  complex,  allow  us  at  the  same 
time  to  see  the  manifoldness  of  conditions  under  which 
our  central  nervous  system  works. 

The  increasing  ability  means  here  not  only  a  training 
in  the  right  combination  of  impulses  but  a  growing  abil- 
ity to  exclude  wrong  movements  and  to  avoid  mistakes. 
The  individual  learns  to  eliminate  unfit  chance  move- 
ments or  to  avoid  inappropriate  positions  of  the  body  by 
which  the  tossing  or  catching  of  the  ball  is  hindered.  A 
certain  definite  combination  of  impulses  is  slowly  devel- 
oped. The  result  is  that  the  improvement  is  not  a  per- 
fectly steady  one,  but  if  it  were  plotted  as  a  curve  it  would 
show  irregular  interruptions.  A  new  combination  of  the 
nervous  paths  is  formed  and  at  once  a  definite  improve- 
ment becomes  noticeable.  For  this  reason  it  is  not  sur- 
prising that  a  certain  improvement  may  set  in  even  in 
periods  of  rest.  One  of  the  experimenters,  who  after  two 
weeks  of  training  reached  an  ability  to  make  195  correct 
tosses  in  one  series,  gained  the  power  to  make  over  300 
tosses  shortly  after  four  months  of  complete  rest.  As 
soon  as  the  right  hand  had  acquired  the  ability  in  high 
development,  the  same  experiments  were  made  with  the 
left  hand.  Originally  the  achievement  of  the  left  hand 
was,  of  course,  far  below  that  of  the  right,  but  after  the 
training  of  the  right  hand  the  left  hand  showed  a  power 
to  toss  and  catch  far  superior  to  that  which  the  right 


Acquirement  of  Abilities  169 

hand  had  shown  in  the  beginning.    Moreover  the  train- 
ing of  the  left  went  on  much  more  rapidly. 

Conscious  Effort  Reqtjieed  in  Repetition 

Experiments  of  this  type  contain  another  suggestion 
which  is  very  important  for  the  learning  of  industrial 
activities.  They  indicate  that  improvement  is  gained 
only  from  repetitions  the  success  or  failure  of  which 
can  be  noticed  by  the  acting  person.  The  mere  frequent 
performing  of  the  action  itself  is  no  condition  for  im- 
provement. The  individual  learns  only  if  he  becomes 
aware  of  the  mistakes  and  makes  an  effort  to  adjust  the 
setting  of  his  mind,  that  is,  of  his  brain  centers,  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  results.  Where  this  is  not  the  case, 
the  unsuccessful  repetitions  are  directly  destroying  the 
desirable  setting.  The  ideal  improvement  results  there- 
fore from  repetitions  of  successful  actions  only. 

One  of  the  consequences  is  that  repetition  is  no  help  to 
the  acquisition  of  ability  as  soon  as  a  certain  degree  of 
fatigue  is  reached.  The  fatigued  mind  may  still  be  able 
to  give  the  motor  impulse  for  the  action,  but  is  not  able 
to  give  attention  to  a  careful  valuation  of  the  outcome. 
The  fatigued  mind  hardly  discriminates  between  the  per- 
fect and  the  poor  movement,  or  at  least  it  does  not  adjust 
itself  to  the  unsuccessful  movement  by  an  inner  change. 
It  does  not  profit  from  the  mistakes.  As  soon  as  perfect 
nervous  connections  for  an  action  are  developed,  the  per- 
formance may  be  continued  even  in  fatigue.  But  the 
learning  process  ought  never  to  be  carried  to  a  degree 
of  fatigue  in  which  the  mind  has  become  indifferent  to 
the  successful  or  unsuccessful  performance.  Mechanic- 
ally to  carry  on  the  repetition  through  such  a  state  of 
mental  dullness  means  rather  to  harm  than  to  further 
the  newly  acquired  ability. 


17i  Business  Psychology 

Avoid  Exceptions  in  Repetition 

If  the  effect  of  repetition  is  dependent  entirely  on  the 
easier  connections  of  nervous  paths,  it  is  evident  that  a 
good  training  demands  the  avoidance  of  exceptions.  The 
formation  of  nervous  habits  must  be  made  more  difficult 
if  from  time  to  time  wrong  connections  are  used.  The 
psychologist  can  give  to  the  ambitious  pupil  no  more 
earnest  advice :  Never  allow  exceptions.  It  is  the  only 
way  to  make  learning  easy.  As  soon  as  a  set  of  actions 
in  response  to  a  given  stimulus  has  become  habitual, 
every  difficulty  is  overcome.  It  is  the  exception  which  in- 
terferes with  this  settling  of  habits.  In  a  moment  of  lazi- 
ness or  indifference  it  may  appear  easier  not  to  undertako 
the  standardized  action,  but  once  yielding  to  such  a  feel- 
ing means  to  break  down  the  connections  which  have 
been  formed. 

This  is  true  not  only  of  definite  movements  needed 
for  a  technical  purpose  but  even  for  complex  actions  of 
general  behavior.  If  we  train  ourselves  to  pack  away 
everything  on  our  desk  before  we  leave  the  office,  or  to 
put  all  the  tools  in  the  workshop  in  their  places  when  we 
are  through  with  the  work,  or  to  answer  the  letters  of  the 
morning  before  night,  or  to  speak  politely  to  the  cus- 
tomer, or  to  carry  a  part  of  the  week's  earnings  to  the 
savings  bank,  every  new  realization  of  such  a  plan  facili- 
tates the  next  performance;  every  breaking  of  our  rule, 
every  case  of  disorder  or  impoliteness  or  squandering, 
disarranges  the  mental  connections  and  creates  a  resist- 
ance for  the  next  occasion.  It  is  much  easier  to  do  our 
duty  always  than  to  do  it  usually  but  to  allow  occasional 
slips.  If  we  discipline  ourselves  for  regular  performance 
of  accurate  work  we  create  conditions  in  our  own  per- 
sonal system  by  which  the  task  before  us  is  made  much 
easier. 


Acquirement  of  Abilities  171 

Repetition  in  Acquiring  Different  Habits  Side  by  Side 

The  demand  not  to  disturb  the  formation  of  habits  by 
exceptional  wrong  nerve  impulses  is  not  contradicted  by 
the  fact  that  different  habits  can  be  developed  side  by 
side.  If  we  learn  to  respond  to  a  certain  situation  by  one 
kind  of  action,  this  does  not  interfere  with  the  training 
for  an  entirely  different  kind  of  response.  A  very  simple 
experiment  may  demonstrate  the  situation.  I  was  ac- 
customed to  carry  my  watch  in  the  left  vest  pocket.  On 
the  first  of  a  month  I  put  it  into  my  right  trousers  pocket 
and  wrote  down  the  number  of  false  movements  until  I 
became  accustomed  to  the  new  activity  which  was  neces- 
sary to  see  the  time.  In  the  first  days  many  wrong  move- 
ments were  made  or  at  least  started,  then  fewer  and 
fewer,  until  I  was  accustomed  to  the  new  position.  On 
the  first  of  the  next  month  I  replaced  the  watch  in  the 
left  vest  pocket  and  noted  how  often  I  made  the  wrong 
movement  to  the  right  trousers  pocket.  Less  practice 
was  needed  this  time  to  reach  the  point  at  which  no  mis- 
takes were  made.  Some  traces  of  the  old  habit  had  ac- 
cordingly remained  in  the  nervous  system.  I  repeated 
this  change  to  and  fro  from  month  to  month  and  the  re- 
sult was  that  both  habits  constantly  grew  stronger  and 
both  finally  became  automatic.  After  the  fourth  change 
there  were  no  wrong  reactions  at  all. 

I  made  similar  experiments  with  inkstands  on  my 
writing  table,  during  one  period  having  ink  in  the  right 
inkstand,  during  the  other  in  the  left.  And  finally  I  experi- 
mented with  two  doors  from  my  study  to  the  hall,  keeping 
one  or  the  other  locked  alternately  and  noting  the  num- 
ber of  wrong  movements.  It  became  evident  that  the 
tendency  to  two  such  different  movements  in  response 
to  the  same  will-idea  can  become  equally  mechanized  in 


172  Business  Psychology 

our  nervons  system  so  that  each  can  be  carried  out  aa 
soon  as  the  right  signal  is  given  without  any  interference 
from  the  other.  This  is  the  reason  why  we  can  master 
two  or  more  languages  with  equal  ease.  The  same  thing 
before  us  or  the  same  situation  may  give  us  in  one  mo- 
ment the  impulse  to  speak  the  French  words,  in  another 
situation  to  answer  with  an  English  or  a  German  or  a 
Spanish  phrase. 

Thus  no  activity  demands  a  narrow  one-sidedness.  Ef- 
ficient training  in  one  system  of  action  never  excludes 
thorough  training  in  another  system,  even  if  they  partly 
overlap  or  have  common  starting  points.  Practice  does 
not  involve  narrowness.  Concentration  and  repetition  in 
one  line  go  well  with  training  in  another.  But  it  is 
easy  to  understand  from  all  which  we  have  discussed  that 
the  two  groups  of  movements  to  be  learned  will  inter- 
fere less  with  each  other  if  they  are  not  too  similar.  It 
is  easier  to  learn  piano-playing  and  violin-playing  at  the 
same  time  than  to  learn  violin-playing  and  violoncello- 
playing.  The  technical  worker  too  will  master  with  less 
effort  the  technique  of  two  very  different  machines  than 
of  two  machines  which  are  partly  alike  and  partly  dif- 
ferent. 

Obganization  op  Complex  Habits 

The  experiment  with  tossing  and  catching  the  ball  sug- 
gested to  us  that  the  learning  of  a  complex  movement 
includes  more  than  the  mere  repetition  of  a  special  im- 
pulse and  muscle  contraction.  The  factor  which  is  not 
less  essential  than  repetition  is  the  organization  of  move- 
ments. A  systematic  organization  is  indeed  the  chief 
help  toward  the  upbuilding  of  a  practical  habit.  To 
write  with  a  pen  involves  endlessly  more  than  the  ability 
to  make  straight  downward  movements  with  the  pen  or 


Acquirement  of  Abilities  173 

upward  movements  or  loops  or  hooks  or  dots.  Each  of 
these  little  part  movements  of  writing  had  to  be  tried 
and  tried  by  the  child  until  through  repetition  a  definite 
ability  was  secured.  Yet  the  essential  step  forward  was 
the  organic  combination  of  such  part  movements  into 
complex  groups  until  one  mental  impulse  could  release 
the  motor  energy  for  all  the  muscle  contractions  needed 
for  the  writing  of  one  letter. 

But  even  when  the  child,  in  its  early  writing  efforts, 
had  learned  to  organize  these  single  finger  movements 
into  the  complex  movement  needed  for  a  whole  letter, 
the  end  of  the  learning  was  not  reached.  The  letters 
themselves  had  to  be  organized  into  the  complex  unit  of 
the  word,  and  the  chief  task  of  the  writing  lesson  was  the 
acquiring  of  this  higher  habit  in  which  an  idea  can  ex- 
press itself  in  that  whole  organized  group  of  movements 
needed  for  the  writing  down  of  a  word.  The  adult  per- 
son, well  trained  in  the  use  of  the  fountain  pen,  is  no 
longer  aware  of  the  single  letter,  but  gives  the  impulse 
for  the  word  as  a  whole.  The  same,  of  course,  is  true  of 
reading.  "We  respond  to  the  optical  impression  of  the 
total  word  with  the  speech  impulse  for  the  whole  organ- 
ized group  of  letters. 

These  simple  cases  give  us  a  clue  for  the  acquiring  of 
complex  technical  habits  in  commercial  and  industrial 
life.  Everywhere  we  must  resolve  the  complex  task  into 
its  elements  and  must  learn  to  perform  the  elementary 
actions,  especially  through  imitation.  Then  we  must 
train  ourselves  in  each  of  these  elements  until  by  repe- 
tition the  functions  become  easier  and  easier  and  finally 
find  no  resistance.  As  soon  as  such  various  simple  func- 
tions have  become  mechanical,  they  must  be  grouped  to- 
gether into  a  higher  unit  which  at  first  absorbs  the  full 
attention.    This  complex  action  is  then  learned  again  by 


174  Business  Psychology 

frequent  repetition  until  it  becomes  just  as  automatic 
as  its  elements  originally  were.  At  that  stage  it  can 
itself  with  other  such  automatic  responses  enter  into  a 
group  of  still  higher  order.  Whatever  our  daily  work 
may  be,  we  are  usually  no  longer  aware  of  how  many 
part-actions  are  automatically  combined  in  the  per- 
formance of  our  duties.  As  every  new  ability  by  which 
a  group  of  movements  has  become  mechanical  allows  ns 
to  turn  our  attention  to  further  goals,  we  forget  how 
long  the  process  was  by  which  we  had  to  learn  the  correct 
carrying  out  of  the  simpler  movements  and  their  com- 
bination. 

Reaching  the  End  by  Distinct  Steps 

The  development  of  such  richer  activities  can  easily  be 
traced  in  much  detail  by  laboratory  experiments.  We 
possess,  for  instance,  an  accurate  investigation  into  the 
methods  of  learning  to  use  the  typewriting  machine. 
Each  key  of  the  machine  was  provided  with  electric  con- 
tacts, and  it  became  possible  to  register  by  this  con- 
trivance all  the  movements  and  to  measure  the  time  be- 
tween them.  It  was  found  that  the  process  of  learning 
consisted  first  of  a  steady  elimination  of  unfit  movements, 
a  selection  of  appropriate  impulses  and  their  reorganiza- 
tion, and  finally  a  combination  of  these  into  processes  of 
higher  order.  But  the  most  characteristic  features  are 
the  irregular  periods  in  which  the  learning  itself  seems 
not  to  make  any  progress.  Such  intervals  of  apparent 
rest  may  cover  a  month  or  more  in  spite  of  daily  practice. 
But  as  soon  as  we  analyze  the  process  more  in  detail  we 
see  that  just  these  periods  are  essential.  They  represent 
the  time  in  which  one  stage  of  organization  is  reached  and 
the  next  has  not  yet  been  started,  because  the  old  one  is 
not  sufficiently  fixed  by  training. 


Acquirement  of  Abilities  17S 

At  first  the  student  of  typewriting  has  to  form  the  ele- 
mentary connection  between  the  single  letter  and  the 
movement  toward  the  particular  key.  This  needs  train- 
ing for  quite  a  while  until  an  entirely  new  impulse  can  b« 
organized,  namely,  the  impulse  which  combines  the  move- 
ments for  a  number  of  keys,  until  finally  the  idea  of  the 
whole  word  is  sufficient  to  release  the  movements  for 
writing  it.  Similar  results  have  been  found  in  the  care- 
ful experimental  analysis  of  the  processes  needed  in  tele- 
graphing, both  in  sending  and  in  receiving.  The  lowest 
connection  refers  here  also  to  the  single  letters.  As 
soon  as  the  apprentice  has  mastered  them,  he  steps  for- 
ward to  syllables  and  short  words.  These  again  need  a 
long  period  of  training  until  everything  is  so  completely 
automatized  that  a  still  higher  stage  can  be  reached,  and 
whole  phrases  can  be  grasped  by  one  personal  act. 

Even  the  simplest  technique  of  the  artisan  or  factory 
worker  can  be  resolved  into  simpler  parts  and  can  be 
mastered  fully  only  if  the  final  product  is  built  up  from 
the  more  elementary  processes.  The  more  the  single 
processes  are  mechanized  by  repetition,  the  more  suc- 
cessful the  organization  will  appear.  On  the  other  hand 
even  the  most  complex  and  apparently  irregular  and 
highly  personal  activity  of  the  man  at  the  top  can  greatly 
profit  from  the  application  of  these  principles.  The  work 
may  appear  far  beyond  all  routine  technique,  controlled 
entirely  by  the  inspiration  of  the  individual;  and  yet  it 
could  have  been  greatly  helped  by  a  planful  organization 
of  action. 

Even  in  the  very  highest  type  of  work,  such  as  the 
responsible  administration  of  great  industrial  or  com- 
mercial undertakings,  large  groups  of  facts  remain  al- 
ways the  same.  The  more  the  responses  toward  these 
groups  are  trained  and  have  become  automatic,  the  more 


176  Business  Psychology 

it  is  possible  to  include  tliem  in  larger  groups  and  to  or- 
ganize them.  To  learn  to  write  shorthand  or  to  drive  a 
motor  car  or  to  typeset  with  a  linotype  machine  is  in 
these  respects  not  different  from  acting  as  floorwalker  in 
a  department  store  or  as  superintendent  in  a  mill  or  as 
president  of  a  trust.  The  capacity  for  organizing  mech- 
anized responses  in  new  combinations  is  of  course  in- 
dividually very  different.  Everybody  can  learn  to  toss 
and  catch  one  ball;  not  everybody  is  quite  as  successful 
with  two ;  and  very  few  really  learn  to  throw  three  balls 
with  one  hand.  But  the  principles  of  learning  are  in  all 
cases  the  same.  It  is  not  different  when  experience  shows 
that  not  everybody  can  learn  to  handle  successfully  a 
great  administrative  organization. 

Kj5bping  the  End  in  View 

Only  one  further  consequence  ought  to  be  drawn ;  and 
much  waste  and  much  disappointment  results  in  the  busi- 
ness world  from  the  neglect  of  this  principle.  We  said 
that  a  complex  movement  must  be  systematically  built 
up.  The  stages  of  learning  must  follow  one  another  so 
that  every  new  one  is  really  prepared  for  by  the  fore- 
going one.  The  chief  condition  for  full  success  is  there- 
fore that  the  apprentice  be  taught  to  approach  the  task 
with  a  view  toward  the  final  stage.  Practical  life  tends  to 
lead  in  a  very  different  direction.  The  beginner  is  usu- 
ally tempted  to  ask  not  how  the  whole  process  can  be 
slowly  built  up  but  how  to  reach  most  quickly  a  certain 
end-effect.  He  uses  some  short  cut  and  is  satisfied  if  he 
can  quickly  see  some  results.  As  soon  as  such  tolerable 
results  are  reached  he  tries  to  improve  them  by  frequent 
repetitions  and  training  and  he  is  unaware  that  his 
method  may  be  entirely  unfit  ever  to  lead  to  the  greatest 
efficiency. 


Acquirement  of  Abilities  111 

A  familiar  illustration  is  the  learning  of  typewriting. 
If  a  beginner  is  left  to  himself,  he  invariably  picks  out 
the  keys  with  the  two  forefingers.  That  gives  him  the  ad- 
vantage of  writing  at  once  with  a  certain  rapidity.  Yet 
he  wdll  never  rival  those  stenographers  who  learned  from 
the  beginning  the  touch  system,  using  all  ten  fingers  on 
the  keyboard  of  the  machine  and  being  able  to  keep  the 
eyes  on  the  shorthand  copy  while  the  two  hands  are  writ- 
ing. It  is,  of  course,  far  more  difficult  to  learn  this  com- 
plex motion  of  the  ten  fingers.  This  demands  a  slow  or- 
ganization of  movements,  but  in  the  end  it  is  the  only 
method  to  secure  the  greatest  possible  speed.  Moreover, 
as  soon  as  it  is  mastered,  it  needs  not  more  but  less 
mental  effort  to  write  with  this  better  organized  method. 
This  case  is  in  every  respect  typical.  All  the  haphazard 
methods  of  learning  are  dangerous,  and  the  desire  to 
produce  quickly  a  result  which  somewhat  approaches  the 
end  in  view  is  almost  always  misleading.  In  many  fields, 
to  be  sure,  the  slow  procedure  of  trying  and  trying  again 
may  be  sufficient  ultimately  to  produce  satisfactory  re- 
sults. But  in  most  cases  such  self-help  will  never  lead 
to  the  ideal  end. 

The  only  safe  method  is  to  start  with  an  analysis  of  the 
best  possible  scheme  and  then  to  force  the  beginner  to  go 
through  all  those  slow  ways  of  training  by  which  this  best 
possible  method  can  be  built  up.  His  first  steps  may  ap- 
pear entirely  useless,  because  they  seem  not  to  lead  di- 
rectly toward  the  end  at  all.  He  may  have  to  learn  at 
first  partial  actions  which  in  themselves  yield  no  results 
but  are  necessary  to  prepare  for  the  more  complex  actions 
which  finally  yield  the  best  possible  results.  The  chance 
efforts  of  the  beginner  who  is  left  to  himself  or  left  to 
the  guidance  of  a  teacher  with  haphazard  methods  may 
easily  become  the  worst  obstruction  in  the  forward  path. 


178  Business  Psychology 

Bad  habits  are  acquired  which  interfere  with  the  later 
training  in  better  procedures. 

The  Value  of  Standardization  in  Industby 

The  psychologist  cannot  too  seriously  advise  the  intro- 
duction of  carefully  chosen  standard  methods  for  the 
learning  of  every  complex  commercial  and  industrial 
acti^dty.  In  the  schoolroom  our  time  has  become  accus- 
tomed to  have  the  methods  of  teaching  under  safe  con- 
trol In  earlier  times  it  was  considered  enough  that  a 
teacher  knew  how  to  read  and  write  and  use  English 
grammar  and  to  calculate.  It  was  left  to  her  to  teach  by 
any  chance  method  the  things  which  she  knew  how  to  do 
herself.  Today  the  teachers  profit  from  a  large  amount 
of  work  devoted  to  the  study  of  the  best  teaching  methods 
and  in  special  educational  courses  they  learn  the  best 
possible  steps  toward  the  development  of  the  various 
activities  in  the  child. 

The  pedagogy  of  commerce  and  industry  is  still  very 
little  developed.  Especially  in  the  mills  and  factories, 
but  also  in  the  commercial  houses,  each  man  picks  up  the 
details  of  his  work  in  an  accidental  way.  The  apprentice 
depends  upon  the  so-called  common  sense  and  experience 
of  some  foreman,  and  his  learning  too  often  begins  at  the 
wrong  point.  Mediocre  results  can  generally  be  reached 
in  many  ways,  but  there  is  usually  only  one  way  to  reach 
the  best  possible  results  and  it  is  highly  desirable  in  the 
interest  of  true  efficiency  to  make  sure  beforehand  which 
this  perfect  method  is  and  to  subordinate  every  act  of 
training  to  the  acquisition  of  this  one  best  scheme. 

As  soon  as  the  development  of  the  best  methods  is  more 
thoroughly  considered  in  business  life,  it  is  evident  that 
a  much  greater  standardization  must  result  than  the  past 
has  seen.    To  standardize  business  methods  does  not  at 


Acquirement  of  Abilities  179 

all  mean  to  make  them  monotonous  and  to  deprive  the 
work  of  spontaneous  freshness  and  personal  inspiration. 
It  means  only  wherever  possible  to  remove  the  obstacles, 
to  decrease  the  friction,  and  to  give  to  the  individual  con- 
venient tools  with  which  he  can  work  to  best  advantage. 
This  is  in  no  department  more  neglected  than  in  the 
sphere  of  selling  activities.  "While  the  technical  methods 
of  the  mills  and  factories  and  even  the  procedures  of  the 
artisans  have  become  more  and  more  standardized,  the 
buying  and  selling  are  mostly  still  left  to  very  primitive 
methods  which  every  salesman  has  to  work  out  for  him- 
self. There  are  no  traditions  and  no  regular  forms.  The 
same  question  may  be  asked  in  a  department  store  a 
thousand  times;  and  yet  the  salesman  has  to  work  out 
the  answer  from  his  own  mental  resources  every  time 
anew.  He  has  not  been  trained  in  a  carefully  prepared 
technique  of  replying.  The  forms  in  which  the  goods  are 
to  be  demonstrated  and  the  ways  in  which  the  customer 
is  to  be  met  have  to  be  chosen  anew  and  to  be  worked 
out  afresh  in  every  instance  by  the  ment<il  energies  of  tlie 
employe. 

Only  some  pioneer  companies  have  undertaken  to  stand- 
ardize the  selling  processes  too  and  to  train  the  travel- 
ing salesmen  or  the  men  in  the  store  in  the  application  of 
those  methods  which  by  careful  analysis  have  been 
worked  out  as  the  ideal  ones.  A  hundred  salesmen  who 
have  to  demonstrate  a  new  article  may  do  it  in  a  hundred 
ways,  but  a  few  of  them  are  much  superior  to  the  rest. 
If  those  best  ways  become  prescribed  and  everyone  is 
systematically  taught  to  organize  his  selling  action  ac- 
cording to  the  standard  method,  it  will  mean  an  immense 
saving  of  energy  and  time  with  a  vast  increase  of  effect- 
iveness. Only  the  method  which  is  really  standardized 
and  systematically  organized  can  be  learned,  and  learn- 


180  Business  Psychology 

ing  means  to  profit  from  the  experience  of  all  others.  To 
make  everyone  begin  at  the  beginning  for  himself  is  the 
most  wasteful  method  and  a  method  which  in  most  cases 
will  never  lead  beyond  mediocre  results. 

TEST  QUESTIONS 

1.  How  does  repetition  aid  in  the  acquirement  of  abilities! 
Does  this  apply  in  the  mental  sphere  as  well  as  in  the  physical  t 

2.  Why  does  muscular  dexterity  depend  upon  nerve  co-or- 
dination t 

3.  Give  an  illustration  to  show  that  development  consists  not 
only  of  a  training  in  the  right  kind  of  impulses,  but  also  in 
ability  to  exclude  wrong  movements  and  avoid  mistakes. 

4.  If  you  were  training  a  person  in  some  industrial  activity, 
how  would  you  attempt  to  secure  his  conscious  effort  in  the  acts 
of  repetition  ? 

5.  Why  is  it  important  to  consider  the  fatigue  factor  in  learn- 
ing by  repetition? 

6.  What  is  the  consequence  of  allowing  exceptions  to  creep 
into  the  processes  of  learning  by  repetition  t 

7.  What  is  meant  by  "organizing  one's  movements"  in  learn- 
ing by  repetition  ? 

8.  Explain  aU  this  in  relation  to  learning  to  write  on  the  type- 
writer. 

9.  What  is  the  importance  of  this  chapter  for  the  subject  of 
standardization  in  industry  ? 


CHAPTEE  Xm 
the  outer  conditions  of  efticiency 

The  Services  of  Psychology 

One  very  important  condition  of  efficient  activity  has 
been  the  topic  of  our  last  discussion.  Indeed  the  actions 
which  constitute  business  life  in  the  case  of  the  highest 
employer  as  well  as  those  of  the  least  important  em- 
ploye cannot  be  carried  out  well  unless  they  have  been 
learned  well.  But  the  learning  and  training  and  acqui- 
sition of  the  necessary  ability  are  after  all  the  prepara- 
tion only  for  the  daily  work  as  it  is  performed  in  the 
workshops  and  offices  of  the  country. 

The  central  problem  of  this  great  and  important 
subject  still  needs  an  answer.  How  can  psychology  help 
us  to  protect  and  improve  the  work  of  those  who  are  by 
their  training  prepared  to  earn  their  living  by  their  ac- 
tivities? Of  course  the  wish  to  improve  the  work  is  in 
itself  no  definite  programme,  as  improvement  may  turn 
in  many  directions.  The  employer  and  the  employe  may 
have  very  different  ideas  as  to  what  means  a  real  improve- 
ment. The  mill-owner  may  consider  as  the  best  work  that 
which  produces  the  largest  possible  output.  The  work- 
ingman  on  the  other  hand  may  consider  a  real  improve- 
ment only  that  change  by  which,  without  decrease  in  the 
output,  his  personal  energy  and  health  are  protected  as 
well  as  possible  and  his  happiness  and  comfort  secured. 

But  the  employers  themselves  may  have  very  different 
wishes  even  if  they  do  not  accept  any  but  an  egoistic 

U  181 


182  Business  Psychology 

point  of  view.  They  may  be  in  doubt  whether  the  best 
method  is  one  in  which  the  greatest  quantity  of  output 
is  insured  or  one  in  which  the  highest  quality  is  brought 
forth.  Others  would  recognize  that  even  their  selfish 
business  interest  earnestly  demands  that  the  welfare  and 
comfort  of  the  employes  be  made  a  concern  of  thein. 
They  recognize  that  the  health  and  happiness  of  the 
workingman  really  increase  the  income  of  the  factory. 
The  psychologist  is  hardly  called  to  play  the  judge  in  such 
social  debates.  He  studies  only  the  laws  of  the  mind  and 
can  therefore  predict  that  a  certain  effect  can  be  reached 
from  certain  mental  causes.  But  he  has  no  right  to  de- 
cide which  effect  is  good  and  which  effect  is  bad.  Yet  he 
certainly  should  not  subordinate  his  advice  to  selfish 
fancies  of  either  side.  The  ideal  to  which  he  has  to  make 
his  psychology  serviceable  must  always  be  that  of  the 
social  community  which  respects  equally  the  demands  of 
the  employer  and  of  the  employe.  Without  partiality  he 
must  ask  what  psychological  facts  ought  to  be  considered 
if  the  aim  is  to  make  the  coromercial  actions  as  eflficient 
as  possible  in  the  interests  of  both  employe  and  employer. 

Adaptation  of  Wobking  Tools 

"We  may  begin  with  the  outside  factors.  Almost  every 
commercially  important  activity  is  related  to  physical 
tools.  It  may  be  hammer  and  chisel  and  saw ;  it  may  be 
the  tailor's  needle  or  the  mason's  trowel;  it  may  be 
a  printing  press  or  a  loom  or  a  locomotive  or  a  harvesting 
machine  or  a  steamboat.  But  whether  we  use  a  fountain 
pen  or  a  dynamo  for  our  daily  work,  the  technical  object 
must  always  be  related  to  our  muscle  contractions,  and 
those  muscle  contractions  are  dependent  upon  our  mental 
motor  impulses.  We  have  to  make  the  impulses  in  ac- 
eordance  with  the  instrument.    Yet  these  impulses  re- 


Outer  Efficiency  183 

main  dependent  upon  the  abilities,  characteristic  traits, 
and  limits  of  our  mind.  An  instrument,  for  instance, 
which  would  need  mental  impulses  so  rapid  or  so  complex 
that  our  mind  could  not  furnish  the  necessary  will-actions 
at  all  would  be  useless.  A  machine  on  which  we  would 
have  to  press  a  lever  with  our  finger  twenty  times  a  sec- 
ond would  have  no  technical  value,  as  no  mind  can  push 
the  finger  so  rapidly.  Even  the  piano  virtuoso  can  trill 
only  twelve  times  in  a  second. 

But  if  it  is  evident  that  the  mind  thus  sets  limits  and, 
we  may  add,  narrow  limits,  to  the  technical  possibilities 
of  the  instruments  which  we  are  to  handle,  it  follows  that 
the  technical  devices  to  which  our  mind  can  adjust  itself 
must  be  more  or  less  fitted  to  our  mental  system.  A  ma- 
chine may  be  constructed  in  such  a  way  that  we  can 
handle  the  levers  in  the  right  order  and  with  the  neces- 
sary speed,  if  a  strong  effort  keeps  the  attention  at  the 
highest  pitch  and  if  we  are  ready  to  pay  for  it  with  great 
exhaustion.  Yet  it  may  be  that  the  same  economic  effect 
could  be  reached  if  the  machine  were  rebuilt,  the  levers 
arranged  otherwise,  so  that  the  necessary  mental  im- 
pulses could  be  given  with  ease  and  without  fatiguing 
exertion  of  the  mind.  The  engineer  is  too  easily  inclined 
to  consider  only  the  physical  chemical  needs  and  to  im- 
prove the  machine  merely  with  regard  to  its  mechanical 
capacity,  but  to  give  little  attention  to  its  adjustment  to 
the  mental  conditions. 

Psychological  Adaptation  of  Tools 

Of  course  common  sense  is  not  suflScient  to  decide  what 
changies  in  the  physical  apparatus  from  the  simplest  tool 
to  the  most  complex  machine  are  really  best  adapted  to 
the  physical  conditions  of  the  average  user.  To  answer 
such  a  question  in  the  concrete  case  demands  just  as  much 


184  Business  Psychology 

careful  and  painstaking  laboratory  research  as  any  in- 
vestigation concerning  the  greatest  working  power  of  a 
machine  in  a  technical  institute.  Even  the  mere  sub- 
jective impression  of  the  workingman  ought  never  to  be 
decisive.  Ever  so  many  psychical  illusions  enter  into 
play  there.  He  may  feel  that  one  kind  of  technique  is 
more  convenient  or  more  comfortable  or  easier  than  an- 
other ;  and  yet  the  objective  examination  may  show  that  it 
fatigues  him  more  or  that  the  outcome  is  in  other  respects 
less  satisfactory.  The  ideal  of  this  modern  movement 
is  distinctly  the  establishment  of  special  psycho-tech- 
nical laboratories  more  or  less  attached  to  the  great 
industrial  plants,  and  the  development  of  the  vocation  of 
consulting  psychologists  who  as  mental  engineers  de- 
termine in  the  special  cases  how  the  working  conditions 
of  the  particular  technical  apparatus  can  be  best  adapted 
to  the  purely  mental  needs  and  abilities  of  the  average 
worker. 

Least  of  all  ought  we  to  be  satisfied  with  a  tool  or  me- 
chanical device  simply  because  it  has  the  sanction  of 
tradition,  and  thus  has  apparently  stood  the  test  of  long 
experience.  Tradition  has  often  tolerated  very  imprac- 
tical methods  simply  because  no  one  turned  his  attention 
to  an  exact  study  of  the  possible  improvements.  On  the 
mental  side  the  experience  of  the  centuries  has  yielded 
more  adjustment  to  the  immediate  feelings  of  comfort 
than  to  the  actual  conditions  of  the  mental  will-mecha- 
nism. How  little  mere  common  sense  and  experience  are 
sufficient  to  shape  the  technical  methods  so  that  the  great- 
est possible  success  may  be  reached  has  amply  been 
demonstrated  by  the  recent  studies  which  the  modern 
scientific  management  movement  has  called  forth.  The 
scientific  management  engineers  under  the  leadership  of 
Frederick  W.  Taylor  do  not  go  the  ways  of  the  psycholo- 


Outer  Efficiency  185 

gist.  Their  methods  and  their  immediate  interests  are 
other.  But  it  is  very  characteristic  that  they  were  able 
to  show  that  even  such  an  old  vocation  as  that  of  the 
masons  was  carried  on  with  tools  which  were  utterly 
unfit  to  secure  the  greatest  possible  eflficiency.  As  soon 
as  the  masons'  apparatus  was  planfully  adjusted  to  the 
psychological  needs  of  the  body,  three  times  as  much 
work  could  be  performed  as  formerly  under  traditional 
methods. 

Even  the  most  trivial  technical  means  may  become  very 
important,  and  slight  changes  may  cause  great  economic 
differences,  if  the  activity  is  widespread  and  frequent. 
It  seems  to  be  utterly  insignificant  whether  a  sewing 
needle  is  I14  of  an  inch  or  1%  of  an  inch  long,  whether 
the  thimble  is  closed  or  open,  whether  thumb  and  first 
finger  grip  the  end  of  the  needle  very  near  the  point  or 
not,  and  whether  during  the  sewing  work  the  left  foot  can 
rest  on  a  low  footstool.  It  would  be  trivial  indeed  if 
nothing  were  in  question  but  one  woman  occasionally 
spending  a  few  minutes  with  sewing  work,  but  if  millions 
of  women  sew  all  over  the  country  and  if  in  factories 
many  thousands  sew  from  morning  till  night  day  after 
day,  it  makes  a  tremendous  difference  if  the  one  method 
meets  the  psychical  needs  better  than  the  other  and  se- 
cures steadier  and  better  work  with  less  mental  effort  and 
fatigue. 

The  automobile-maker  considers  carefully  the  effect- 
iveness of  the  various  levers  which  the  chauffeur  has  to 
put  in  action.  He  also  knows  very  well  that  the  possibili- 
ties are  limited  by  the  conditions  of  body  and  mind.  Yet 
the  subtler  details  for  the  arrangements  of  the  brake  and 
the  clutch  and  the  accelerator  are  hardly  considered  un- 
der the  most  essential  point  of  view,  namely,  that  of  the 
needs  of  the  mind.    All  speedy  vehicles,  the  motor  ear 


186  Business  Psychology 

as  well  as  the  locomotive  and  the  aeroplane,  ought  to  be 
built  so  that  an  important  difference  of  mental  intention 
has  to  be  expressed  by  strikingly  different  physical 
action.  To  stop  a  car  and  to  speed  it  up  are  two  functions 
which  ought  never  to  be  released  by  the  same  forward 
movement  of  the  foot,  that  is,  by  the  same  muscle  con- 
traction, 

iNorviDUAL  Adaptation 

In  many  cases  the  perfect  adjustment  would  demand, 
above  all,  consideration  of  individual  differences  of  men- 
tal habits  and  dispositions.  We  know  how  many  kinds 
of  typewriting  machines  are  on  the  market  and  how  cer- 
tain advantages  are  claimed  for  every  one.  The  truth  is 
that  these  advantages  always  exist  only  for  special  minds. 
The  single  keyboard  and  shift  key  of  the  Remington  ma- 
chine is  adjusted  to  an  entirely  different  type  of  psychical 
system  from  that  to  which  the  double  keyboard  of  the 
Smith  Premier  is  suited.  The  technical  arrangements  for 
filing  and  sorting,  like  those  in  the  post-office  cars  of  the 
railways,  are  used  by  men  whose  mental  differences 
would  make  very  different  types  of  arrangements  desir- 
able. Even  the  office  furniture  is  too  easily  left  to  the 
judgment  of  the  carpenter  and  perhaps  a  little  accommo- 
dated to  the  feelings  of  comfort  instead  of  being  ad- 
justed most  carefully  to  the  needs  of  the  work.  A  chair 
one  inch  higher  or  lower  may  influence  greatly  the  mental 
energy  needed  for  the  day's  work  and  indirectly  the  qual- 
ity of  the  output. 

Rhythmical  Action 

The  most  important  adjustment  is  secured  where 
rhythmical  action  becomes  possible.  Rhythmical  repe- 
tition is  most  favorable  for  social  co-operation,  as  when- 


Outer  Efficiency  187 

ever  several  people  have  to  act  together  the  impulses  can 
best  be  timed  by  a  regular  rhythm.  But  still  more  essen- 
tial is  the  saving  of  energy  which  every  single  individual 
experiences  by  the  rhythmical  arrangement.  The  per- 
formance of  each  act  then  becomes  a  signal  for  the  next 
and  the  mental  motor  energy  for  one  movement  lasts 
over  the  next  and  the  following.  In  any  irregular  func- 
tion each  act  needs  a  new  mental  preparation.  In  the 
rhythmical  action  a  definite  situation  of  the  mind  is 
reached  in  which  the  impulse  for  every  new  action  is 
small  compared  with  that  which  remains  throughout  the 
series. 

Psycho-Muscular  Adaptations 

A  further  technical  need  suggested  by  the  structure  of 
the  mind  and  body  is  a  shifting  of  the  work  from  the 
large  to  the  small  muscles.  The  mind  can  master  the 
impulse  more  easily  with  less  effort  and  with  less  fatigue 
and  disturbing  after-effect  if  the  achievement  can  be  se- 
cured with  fingers  instead  of  the  whole  hand,  with  the 
hand  instead  of  the  whole  arm,  with  the  arm  instead  of 
the  whole  body.  The  mental  impulses  for  the  smaller 
muscles  can  follow  one  another  more  rapidly,  can  change 
more  quickly  and  the  performance  itself  inhibits  less  the 
succeeding  actions.  Wherever  a  technical  improvement 
allows  the  workingman  to  secure  by  a  finger  contraction 
what  before  needed  the  whole  arm,  a  true  advance  is 
made  in  the  direction  of  disburdening  the  mind. 

Thorough  investigations  have  shown  moreover  that  the 
rapidity  with  which  regular  movements  can  be  performed 
in  the  most  exact  fashion  is  very  different  for  different 
parts  of  the  body.  Each  muscle  group  has  its  own  best 
speed  for  the  most  exact  performance.  The  foot  has  a 
different  rhythm  from  the  leg  or  from  the  head  or  from 


188  Business  Psychology 

the  wrist.  But  we  must  never  forget  that  the  exact  speed 
for  the  most  favorable  conditions  can  never  be  discov- 
ered from  the  subjective  impression  of  the  worker  him- 
self. A  rhythm  for  a  special  muscle  group  may  be  very 
comfortable  to  him,  and  yet  the  detailed  experiment  may 
prove  that  it  is  not  the  speed  at  which  the  rhythmically 
working  organ  produces  the  most  exact  repetitions.  But 
as  soon  as  the  experiment  has  definitely  made  out  what 
forms  and  speeds  and  combinations  of  actions  secure  the 
highest  eflSciency,  the  technique  of  the  apparatus  ought  to 
be  adjusted  as  much  as  possible  and  the  movement  ought 
to  become  completely  standardized  so  that  every  individ- 
ual must  adjust  himself  to  the  prescribed  style  of  work. 

We  demand  that  everyone  spell  the  words  of  the 
language  in  the  same  way  and  we  do  not  allow  anybody 
to  invent  his  own  orthography.  Moreover  while  it  is  dif- 
ficult to  learn  correct  spelling  at  first  everybody  who  has 
mastered  it  in  school  knows  that  it  is  much  simpler  to  be 
subordinated  to  such  standardized  forms  than  to  invent 
his  own  forms  every  time  he  writes  a  letter. 

Motion  Studies 

All  the  so-called  motion  studies  which  have  been  devel- 
oped in  the  course  of  the  scientific  management  movement 
belong  in  this  sphere.  Almost  every  complex  move- 
ment which  we  carry  out  in  the  course  of  the  day  involves 
a  waste  of  energy.  The  same  effect  could  be  reached  with 
a  simpler  combination  of  impulses.  We  allow  useless 
movements  to  creep  in  or  to  accompany  the  chief  mo- 
tions. We  waste  both  energy  and  time.  It  would  be 
pedantic  even  to  wish  that  the  actions  of  our  practical 
life  become  reduced  to  the  minimum  requirement.  It  is 
quite  in  order  that  we  waste.  It  would  involve  too  much 
effort  of  thought  and  training  and  deprive  us  of  many 


Outer  Efficiency  189 

comforts  if  we  had  to  confine  ourselves  to  the  simplest 
motions  which  lead  to  our  goal.  Do  we  not  also  in  our 
conversation  use  many  more  words  than  would  be  neces- 
sary to  give  the  simplest  and  most  precise  expression  to 
our  thought?  It  does  not  harm  us  if  we  eat  our  soup  and 
our  steak  with  many  superfluous  movements.  "We  want 
to  enjoy  the  comfort  of  our  meal.  Even  if  we  sit  in  our 
office  and  fold  a  few  letters  and  put  them  into  envelopes 
and  close  them  and  put  them  aside,  we  may  have  done  so 
with  many  more  muscle  contractions  than  were  absolutely 
necessary  and  we  may  have  lost  five  seconds  by  our  hap- 
hazard movements.  Yet  it  would  not  have  appeared 
worth  while  to  study  the  best  possible  scheme  of  dispatch- 
ing our  letters  in  order  to  save  five  seconds. 

How  different  is  the  situation  if  not  a  few  letters  are  to 
be  closed,  but  if  the  employer  has  to  pay  the  wages  of  a 
dozen  girls  who  have  to  fold  two  million  circulars  and 
enclose  them  in  envelopes  and  make  them  ready  for  the 
mail.  If  only  one  second  is  saved  on  every  circular  the 
twelve  girls  would  have  to  work  a  week  less.  That  would 
make  it  worth  while  to  study  and  to  determine  by  experi- 
ment once  for  all  how  the  motor  impulses  are  to  follow 
one  another  with  the  greatest  possible  saving  of  time  and 
witji  the  least  possible  fatigue.  It  may  be  that  the  new 
ft  ^  jination  of  movements  is  in  the  first  half  hour  less 
convenient  to  the  girls,  but  they  will  quickly  be  trained 
and  will  soon  feel  that  the  definite  form  of  action  once  ac- 
cepted saves  much  mental  effort.  To  reach  such  a  result 
it  is  necessary  to  analyze  with  exact  instruments  every 
single  action  into  its  component  elements  and  to  measure 
the  time  of  these  elements  and  the  loss  of  time  by  their 
combination.  Much  of  this  motion  study  has  been  done 
with  such  simple  devices  as  watches  which  measure  in 
fifths  of  a  second.    More  subtle  work  demands  electric 


190  Business  Psychology 

chronoaoopes  which  show  the  hundredths  or  ev«n  the 
thousandths  of  a  second. 

Other  studies  of  this  kind  may  use  methods  of  graphic 
recording.  Take  the  case  that  the  girls  have  to  fold 
handkerchiefs  in  a  mill.  If  they  are  well  trained,  their 
hand  and  finger  movements  are  so  rapid  that  they  can 
hardly  be  traced.  They  themselves  do  not  know  in  what 
order  their  movements  are  carried  out.  They  rely  on  a 
habitual  procedure  which  has  been  developed  without 
special  plan.  It  would  be  difficult  to  analyze  movements 
of  this  kind  without  somehow  making  the  elements  visible. 
But  let  us  put  rings  with  small  electric  lights  on  the  fore- 
fingers of  the  two  hands  and  interrupt  the  electric  current 
by  a  tuning  fork  device  ten  times  a  second.  Then  let  us 
take  a  photographic  picture  of  the  motion  throughout  the 
folding  process.  The  result  is  that  the  movement  will  be 
seen  in  the  composite  photograph  as  a  dotted  line  of  light 
points,  ten  points  in  a  second.  This  dotted  line  is  entire- 
ly jerky  and  irregular.  On  that  basis  we  can  study  the 
possible  improvements  of  motion,  until  that  dotted  line 
becomes  straight  and  smooth  and  represents  the  simplest 
possible  effort. 

But  closing  letters  and  folding  handkerchiefs  are  ex- 
tremely simple  movements.  The  motion  study  can  pro- 
ceed to  more  and  more  complex  combinations  of  imptdaira. 
The  question  of  individual  differences  must  necessarily 
play  a  large  role  in  it  and  the  technique  of  the  tools  in- 
fluences the  whole  situation.  The  psychologists  have  only 
begun  to  approach  this  field. 

A  Pbopeb  Envibonment 

But  the  outer  conditions  which  favor  or  hinder  efficient 
work  through  their  relations  to  the  mind  are  not  con- 
fined to  the  tools.    The  surroundings  of  the  worker  stimu- 


This  picture  shows  a  part  of  an  instrument  used  in  applied  psychology. 
The  apparatus  at  the  left  allows  signals  to  be  given  similar  to  those  in  rail- 
road service.  When  the  experimenter  touches  various  keys,  semaphores  take 
oblique  or  vertical  or  horizontal  positions,  and  red  or  green  or  white  lights 
flash  up. 

At  the  other  corner  of  the  room,  not  visible  in  the  picture,  a  subject  sits 
in  a  cab  similar  to  that  of  a  locomotive,  with  all  the  levers  of  an  engine.  At 
the  right  side  of  the  picture  an  endless  smoked  paper  revolves  over  two 
cylinders  and  seven  little  electric  markers  record  the  moment  in  which  the 
signals  are  given  and  in  which  reactions  are  performed.  One  of  those  seven 
markers  writes  fractions  of  a  second. 

With  the  help  of  this  instrument  it  becomes  possible  to  measure  through 
periods  of  hours  the  times  and  the  mistakes  in  any  reactions  on  railway 
signals  and  to  study  the  most  favorable  conditions  for  such  work.  The 
experiment  is  useful  in  determining  the  fitness  of  individuals  for  the  voca- 
tion of  a  railway  engineer. 


Outer  Efficiency  191 

late  or  inhibit  Ms  work.  Everybody  knows  that  he  can 
do  more  in  a  moderate  temperature  than  in  great  heat 
or  in  great  cold,  that  he  is  more  ready  for  hard  work  in 
good  than  in  foul  air,  that  he  is  fresher  at  his  task  in  a 
well-lighted  room  than  under  poor  illumination,  that  he 
can  concentrate  on  his  duties  better  in  a  quiet  place  than 
amid  distracting  noises.  But  mere  generalities  are  in- 
sufficient and  perhaps  often  unreliable.  There  may  be 
mental  illusions  involved.  Many  a  man  also  thinks  that 
he  can  do  better  work  after  having  taken  several  drinks 
of  whiskey,  and  yet  the  exact  measurement  can  easily 
demonstrate  that  the  feeling  of  increased  strength  is  de- 
ceptive and  that  in  reality  his  work  becomes  worse.  So 
the  psychologist  will  never  put  his  confidence  in  the  vague 
testimonies  of  the  worker  himself,  but  will  accompany 
his  self-observations  with  exact  measurements  and  de- 
termine with  careful  instruments  the  increase  or  decrease 
of  efficiency  under  the  influence  of  lights  or  sounds  or 
smells  or  temperatures,  and  so  on. 

As  soon  as  the  laboratory  investigator  analyzes  the 
facts,  he  can  indeed  trace  subtle  changes  in  our  whole 
system  of  action  in  response  to  the  various  outside  con- 
ditions. He  may  measure,  for  instance,  the  amount  of 
energy  with  which  he  can  press  down  a  spring  while  he 
sees  different  colored  lights.  The  recording  instruments 
show  that  our  will-impulse  is  much  more  effective  when 
our  surrounding  is  red  than  when  it  is  blue.  The  red 
color  stirs  up  the  mind  and  brain  to  more  forceful  will- 
action.  The  technical  term  is  ''dynamogenic  influence.** 
The  owner  of  a  large  cotton  mill  who  has  a  number  of 
centrifugal  dyeing  machines  reports  that  the  work  is 
mostly  with  red  and  with  black  color  and  expresses  his 
surprise  that  his  workmen  are  always  behindhand  when 
they  deal  with  the  black  material  and  never  when  they 


192  Business  Psychology 

deal  with  the  red.    Any  psychologist  would  have  fore- 
seen that.    Black  is  a  subtle  form  of  friction. 

But  most  influences  of  this  kind  are  today  still  beyond 
the  control  of  the  psychologists,  because  the  researches 
have  hardly  started.  We  only  know  with  certainty  that  no 
sense-influence  ought  to  be  neglected  and  considered  as 
unimportant.  The  workman  himself  may  assure  us  that 
he  is  not  disturbed  by  the  noise  around  him  or  by  the 
bad  odor.  But  subtle  measurement  shows  that  every  time 
the  big  hammer  falls  down  on  the  other  side  of  the  factory 
the  noise  does  interfere  with  the  mental  impulses  to  his 
muscles  and  that  the  irregularity  of  those  hammer  blows 
decreases  greatly  his  eflBciency  without  his  knowledge. 
The  modem  factory-owner  has  learned  to  value  the  im- 
portance of  cleanliness  and  neatness  and  good  light 
wherever  men  or  women  are  working.  He  knows  from 
experience  how  much  better  work  is  produced  by  em- 
ployes whose  senses  are  not  maltreated  by  dirt  and  dis- 
order. The  harmony  of  the  surroundings  and  their  order 
have  a  harmonious  influence  on  the  whole  mental  physical 
mechanism  of  the  individuals.  Their  impulses  become 
better  adjusted  to  one  another,  their  actions  better  organ- 
ized. Having  the  lights  higher  or  lower  may  greatly 
change  the  output  from  the  working  force. 

TEST  QUESTIONS 

1.  How  can  psychology  aid  in  determining  upon  the  operating 
possibilities  of  a  machine  T    Suggest  a  number  of  tests. 

2.  Are  all  your  working  took  and  apparatus  psychologically 
adapted  to  your  own  work  T 

3.  How  are  these  principles  worked  out  in  the  automobile? 
In  the  typewriter  keyboard? 

4.  Why  does  a  saving  of  muscular  energy  mean  also  a  saving 
of  brain  energy  ? 


Outer  Efficiency  193 

5.  How  is  time  and  motion  study  related  to  this  subject  T 

6.  "Why  are  impressions  as  to  one's  efficiency  not  safe  guides 
without  verification  by  exact  measurement? 

7.  What  are  some  of  the  conditions  of  environment  that 
directly  stimulate  or  retard  activity  ?    Illustrate, 

8.  What  is  meant  by  * '  dynamogenic  influenoe"?    Illustrate. 

9.  How  could  you  get  accurate  results  as  to  whether  certain 
noises  in  an  establishment  are  interfering  with  the  efficiency  of 
the  workers? 

10.  How  do  cleanliness  and  neatness  in  a  factory  increase  the 
efficiency  of  the  workers  within  the  pUuitt 


CHAPTER  XrV 
the  inneb  coitditions  of  efficienot 

Nature  of  the  Inneb  Conditions 

The  chief  conditions  of  eflSciency  lie  not  without  the 
organism  but  in  the  readiness  of  the  mind  brain-system 
itself.  Even  with  the  best  adapted  tools  and  under  the 
most  favorable  outside  conditions  an  overfatigued  or 
an  intoxicated  or  an  emotionally  upset  mind  brain-appa- 
ratus must  produce  unsatisfactory  results.  Needless  to 
say,  the  disturbance  of  work  must  be  greatest  when  the 
mind  is  diseased.  We  can  ignore  diseases  here,  and  con- 
sider only  the  chief  conditions  for  the  normal  mind. 
Halfway  between  outer  and  inner  conditions  we  find  the 
influence  of  the  drugs,  including  alcohol.  They  come 
from  without  like  the  influences  on  the  senses,  like  color 
and  sound,  but  they  are  by  their  absorption  into  the  body 
transformed  into  inner  conditions  for  the  action  of  brain 
and  mind. 

Effects  of  Alcohol 

Especially  the  influence  of  alcohol  on  industrial  ef- 
ficiency has  been  an  often  discussed  problem.  But  the 
real  experimental  material  which  has  been  gathered  so 
far  is  still  rather  meagre.  The  laboratory  investigation 
which  is  most  often  quoted  in  the  interest  of  abstinence 
was  carried  on  with  typesetters.  The  men  had  to  drink 
in  the  midst  of  their  work  a  considerable  quantity  of 
heavy  wine,  and  the  effect  on  their  typesetting  was  ex- 

194 


Inner  Efficiency  196 

amined  for  the  next  four  quarters  of  an  hour.  The  most 
characteristic  result  was  that  the  typesetterg  who  took 
part  in  the  experiment  had  a  strong  feeling  that  the  wine 
had  improved  their  ability  to  perform  the  work,  but  that 
the  objective  outcome  was  a  decrease  of  their  achieve- 
ment. The  average  loss  was  15  per  cent,  but  it  must  be 
added  that  this  loss  through  the  alcoholic  influence  re- 
ferred exclusively  to  the  quantity  and  not  to  the  quality. 
They  were  not  able  to  set  so  many  letters  but  the  number 
of  mistakes  did  not  increase. 

Such  experiments  with  actual  workingmen  are,  how- 
ever, the  exception  as  yet.  Our  real  knowledge  of  the  ef- 
fect of  intoxicants  on  the  mental  processes  is  based  on 
studies  which  have  no  direct  connection  with  industrial 
work.  The  experiments  have  been  carried  on  with  refer- 
ence to  ordinary  functions,  like  reading,  counting,  dis- 
criminating, remembering,  recalling,  attending,  and  so 
on.  All  the  experimenters  agree  that  the  ability  to  grasp 
and  to  understand  the  impressions  of  the  surrounding  is 
decreased,  and  the  span  of  consciousness  and  of  atten- 
tion narrowed  by  any  considerable  doses  of  alcohol. 
Measurements  with  chronoscopes  by  which  hundredths 
of  a  second  can  be  discriminated  show  that  the  process  of 
understanding  becomes  distinctly  slower.  At  the  same 
time  the  memory  suffers.  The  ability  to  reproduce  the 
material  which  was  learned  is  reduced.  The  exactitude  in 
the  discrimination  is  lowered,  the  time  estimation  be- 
comes poorer,  the  measurement  of  distance  by  the  eye  be- 
comes imperfect. 

These  effects  while  not  examined  in  actual  industrial 
activities  but  under  the  artificial  conditions  of  psycho- 
logical workshops  must  be  of  significant  import  for  com- 
merce and  industry.  On  the  other  hand  acuity  of  vision 
is  slightly  sharpened  by  small  doses  of  alcohol  and  motor 


196  Business  Psychology 

excitability  is  strongly  increased.  The  brain  which  is 
under  the  influence  of  alcohol  is  more  ready  to  discharge 
its  excitements  into  actions.  The  motor  impulses  are 
more  quickly  released.  But  it  would  be  very  hasty  to  see 
in  this  greater  preparedness  for  motor  response  a  real 
advantage  to  the  industrial  work.  While  the  movements 
are  performed  more  quickly  their  exactitude  and  fitness 
suffer.  The  greater  readiness  for  action  is  not  an  im- 
provement of  the  mind  brain-apparatus,  but  in  reality  a 
defect.  It  results  from  a  certain  inefficiency  of  those 
brain  centers  which  inhibit  the  wrong  movements.  The 
result  is  that  the  brain  responds  frequently  with  incor- 
rect reactions. 

This  is  truly  the  real  reason  why  chauffeurs,  loco- 
motive engineers,  seamen,  and  men  in  similar  vocations 
should  never  go  to  work  under  any  direct  alcoholic  in- 
fluence, as  the  inclination  to  wrong  reactions  in  their  case 
brings  immediate  danger  to  themselves  and  those  who 
are  entrusted  to  their  care.  It  is  this  very  disappear- 
ance of  the  checking  influences  through  higher  brain 
centers  which  gives  them  personally  the  misleading  im- 
pression that  they  are  doing  their  work  with  especial  ease 
and  comfort.  Moreover  the  period  of  acceleration  in  the 
performance  of  action  is  soon  followed  by  a  period  of 
retardation,  and  finally  the  energy  of  the  will-action,  that 
is,  the  mere  physical  strength  of  the  alcoholized  brain,  is 
from  the  start  less  than  normal. 

It  would  be  unscientific,  nevertheless,  to  deduce  from 
these  facts  the  claim  that  industrial  and  conamercial  life 
demands  by  all  means  complete  abstinence  instead  of 
temperance.  The  alcohol  problem  in  its  whole  social  set- 
ting is  naturally  much  wider  than  its  relation  to  technical 
work  suggests.  Questions  of  morality  and  criminality, 
ef  health  and  hygiene,  are  involved.    We  have  no  right  to 


Inner  Efficiency  197 

follow  up  these  interesting  discussions  here.  But  as  far 
as  mere  commercial  and  industrial  life  is  concerned,  it 
ought  not  to  be  denied  that  the  deductions  in  favor  of 
complete  abstinence  are  the  results  of  a  certain  one-sided- 
ness.  Alcohol  taken  before  or  during  work  certainly 
reduces  the  mental  ability  to  work,  or,  in  other  words, 
complete  abstinence  would  surely  secure  to  the  working- 
man  more  efficiency  than  any  drinking  in  the  morning. 

But  that  does  not  settle  the  question  whether  those 
adult  persons  whose  nervous  system  is  in  good  health  do 
more  wisely  under  the  point  of  view  of  industrial  ef- 
ficiency to  abstain  from  alcohol  entirely  or  to  use  a  small 
or  certainly  a  moderate  amount  after  the  completion  of 
the  daily  work.  There  is  no  doubt  that  even  a  glass  of 
light  beer  after  the  work  produces  a  decreased  efficiency 
of  the  inhibiting  centers  in  the  brain.  The  field  of  the 
mind  is  somewhat  narrowed  and  the  attention  reduced. 
But  we  have  no  right  to  take  it  for  granted  that  that  is 
a  disadvantage.  If  this  were  the  case  sleep  would  be  the 
greatest  misfortune  for  the  mind,  as  then  the  span  of  con- 
sciousness is  narrowed  to  its  minimum,  attention  is  para- 
lyzed and  activities  cut  off.  Yet  we  know  that  periods  of 
sleep  are  the  most  necessary  condition  for  eflScient  work 
in  a  waking  state. 

It  may  be  distinctly  useful  for  the  total  work  of  the 
healthy  average  workingman  if  in  the  evening  he  passes 
through  a  period  of  decreased  attention  and  narrowed 
span  of  consciousness.  The  after-effects  of  the  motor  ex- 
citements from  the  day's  work  are  eliminated  by  this 
counter-influence,  the  cares  and  troubles  of  the  day  are 
extinguished,  and  sleep  is  secured.  We  still  know  very 
little  how  these  useful  effects  of  small  alcoholic  doses 
after  the  day's  occupation  affect  the  total  year's  output. 

Strong  doses  of  alcohol  are  ruinous  in  any  case. 
14 


198  Business  Psychology 

Othee  Stimulants 

While  the  alcohol  problem  naturally  stands  in  the  fore- 
ground the  mental  effects  of  the  other  excitants  are  not 
at  all  unimportant  for  practical  life.  The  more  alcohol 
appears  unfit  to  satisfy  the  natural  demand  of  the 
workingman  for  excitement  and  refreshment,  the  more 
substitutes,  especially  coffee,  tea,  tobacco,  and  chocolate, 
demand  attention.  The  sociable  influence  of  tea,  for  in- 
stance, is  well  known.  The  effect  of  the  tea  on  the  nervous 
system  and  the  mind  can  easily  be  demonstrated  in  the 
laboratory  as  an  influence  on  the  attention,  the  association 
of  ideas,  the  motor  excitability,  the  power  of  discrimina- 
tion, and  so  on. 

In  all  these  cases  the  results  are  mostly  complicated. 
It  is  not  only  the  chemical  substance  in  coffee  or  tea 
which  changes  the  setting  but  also  the  aromatic  smell- 
sensation  has  its  influence.  Very  interesting  experiments 
have  demonstrated  that  similar  elements  enter  into  the 
alcohol  effect.  Small  doses  of  alcohol  do  not  produce  the 
usual  change  in  the  mind  when  they  are  brought  into  the 
organism  by  a  stomach  pump,  not  allowing  the  subject  to 
know  whether  he  received  alcohol  or  water.  The  smell 
of  the  alcohol  has  its  suggestive  influence.  Moreover  in 
the  case  of  all  beverages  the  secondary  chemical  sub- 
stances may  be  of  considerable  importance.  The  same 
amount  of  alcohol  may  have  very  different  effect  on  mind 
and  body  in  the  form  of  whiskey,  beer,  claret,  or  cham- 
pagne. The  same  tobacco  may  bring  different  psychical 
results  when  smoked  in  different  ways. 

The  most  destructive  results  on  the  whole  mind  body- 
system  must  be  expected  from  morphine  and  cocaine 
which  in  surreptitious  ways  nowadays  so  often  reach 
those  who  abstain  from  alcohol.    Here  too  illusory  feel- 


Inner  Eficiency  199 

ings  of  freshness  and  readiness  to  work  deceive  the  vic- 
tim. More  than  with  any  other  stimulants  the  brain  cells 
demand  a  steady  increase  of  the  doses  used.  Whatever  a 
man 's  place  in  commerce  or  industry  may  be,  as  soon  as 
he  begins  a  regular  use  of  cocaine  or  morphine,  he  can 
be  sure  that  he  will  have  to  step  out  of  it  very  soon.  The 
longing  for  the  satisfaction  is  so  overwhelming  that  the 
mere  good-will  and  thought  of  dangerous  consequences 
cannot  balance  the  abnormally  strong  impulse.  This 
quickly  leads  to  the  habitual  taking  of  such  amounts  of 
the  poison  that  brain  and  mind  become  unfit  for  organized 
work. 

Fatigue 

While  drinking  and  smoking  can  easily  be  avoided, 
another  disturbing  influence  cannot  be  entirely  eliminated 
from  the  work,  namely,  fatigue.  As  soon  as  the  mind 
brain-apparatus  suffers  from  fatigue,  the  eflBciency  of  its 
will-achievement  is  decreased.  Both  employer  and  em- 
ploye have  the  greatest  interest  to  reduce  the  weakening 
influence  of  fatigue  to  the  least  possible  amount.  But 
the  word  ''fatigue"  refers  to  a  number  of  changes  which 
are  to  a  certain  degree  independent  of  one  another.  We 
must  separate  the  subjective  feeling  of  fatigue  from  the 
objective  decrease  in  the  ability  to  produce  work.  More- 
over both  the  subjective  and  the  objective  processes  can 
refer  either  to  the  muscles  themselves  which  are  used 
during  the  work  or  to  the  mind  and  brain.  The  feeling 
of  fatigue  in  the  arm  is  very  different  from  that  of  ex- 
haustion of  the  mind  in  which  the  man  feels  unable  still 
to  contract  the  arm.  But  even  in  these  mind  brain-states 
of  fatigue  different  functions  may  be  involved.  The  at- 
tention which  is  directed  toward  the  work  may  become 
obtuse,  or  the  discrimination  of  the  sen&e-impressions 


200  Business  Psychology 

may  have   suffered   from   fatigue,   or   the   association 
mechanism  may  be  out  of  gear  from  exhaustion. 

Experiments  demonstrate  that  any  one  of  these  detri- 
mental changes  may  arise  without  the  others.  Especially 
the  feeling  of  fatigue  can  grow  strongly  without  a  real  de- 
crease in  the  strength  of  the  rhythmical  motor  work  and 
still  more  frequent  is  the  opposite  case,  namely,  that  the 
physical  work  suffers  strongly  from  the  objective  fatigue 
of  the  nerve  centers  without  a  distinct  subjective  feeling 
of  fatigue.  It  often  happens  that  the  decrease  in  the 
nervous  energy  which  shows  itself  in  the  poorer  work  is 
combined  with  a  state  of  increased  excitement  and  that 
this  excitement  inhibits  and  overshadows  the  feeling  of 
fatigue. 

Rest  Periods 

The  most  natural  counter-influence  is  the  interruption 
of  work  by  pauses.  But  just  with  reference  to  these 
recesses,  it  is  important  to  discriminate  among  the  vari- 
ous forms  of  fatigue.  The  chief  difference  is  this:  If 
the  fatigue  is  only  the  result  of  the  chemical  products 
which  gather  in  the  muscle  from  the  long  action  of  the 
organ,  a  short  rest  will  be  sufficient  to  overcome  it.  Then 
fresh  blood  streams  through  the  poisoned  muscle  and  re- 
stores its  energies  by  removing  the  chemical  fatigue  sub- 
stances. But  it  is  quite  different  with  that  other  kind  of 
fatigue  in  which  the  organ  is  really  exhausted  and  a  new 
upbuilding  is  needed  to  bring  it  back  to  its  fullest  ef- 
ficiency. Long  pauses  are  then  essential.  But  it  is  also 
to  be  considered  that  the  effect  of  pauses  is  not  only  the 
removal  of  the  fatigue. 

Every  continuous  activity  of  a  repeating  nature  se- 
cures a  certain  adjustment  of  mind  and  brain  by  which 
the  actions  can  be  performed   with   less    effort.     The 


Inner  Efficiency  201 

worker  becomes  adapted  to  the  task  and  experiment 
shows  that  this  adaptation  is  lost  or  at  least  decreased  by 
a  pause.  Hence  the  same  interruption  may  have  a  double 
effect.  On  the  one  side  it  secures  a  restoration  of  lost 
energies  and  eliminates  the  disturbing  fatigue,  but  on 
the  other  side  it  injures  the  perfect  adjustment  which 
had  been  reached.  A  very  careful  balance  between  the 
advantages  and  the  disadvantages  of  the  recess  is  there- 
fore needed.  On  the  whole  it  appears  that  with  very 
frequent  short  pauses  the  disadvantages  outweigh  the 
advantages,  and  that  the  best  effect  is  reached  by  longer 
but  rare  periods  of  recess. 

The  Use  of  Eest  Pebiods 

But  the  mere  interruption  of  work  is  not  the  only 
essential  condition  for  restoring  energy.  Much  more 
depends  upon  the  filling  of  the  interval.  To  a  certain 
degree  the  activity  of  other  brain  centers  may  be  a  help 
for  the  restoration  of  the  fatigued  ones.  Experiments 
have  demonstrated  that  the  ability  to  lift  weights  is  im- 
proved if  it  is  interrupted  by  two  hours  of  adding  figures, 
while  it  is  strongly  reduced  by  a  two  hours'  brisk  walk. 
The  hygiene  of  rest  and  the  arrangement  of  proper  sur- 
roundings and  favorable  conditions  for  the  intervals  in 
the  day's  work  must  be  a  most  serious  concern  of  the  em- 
ployer who  aims  toward  the  highest  efiSciency  of  the 
working  force.  No  doubt  the  only  way  completely  to  re- 
store the  used-up  nerve  centers  is  sleep.  During  the  work 
the  complex  chemical  molecules  are  broken  up  and  their 
destruction  releases  the  energies  which  contract  the 
muscles.  During  sleep  the  simple  chemical  substances 
which  the  blood  carries  to  the  brain  are  built  up  again  in 
the  complex  molecules  of  the  nerve  cells  needed  for  the 
day's  mental  and  physical  work. 


202  Business  Psychology 

Individual  Reaction  to  Fatigue 
Men  differ  greatly  as  to  their  subjective  fatigue  re- 
action. A  question  blank  which  was  filled  out  by  five 
thousand  workingmen  gave  the  following  statistics. 
Among  the  miners  51  reported  that  they  felt  fatigue  after 
the  first  hour,  58  after  the  second,  12  after  the  third,  203 
after  the  fourth,  416  after  the  fifth,  412  after  the  sixth, 
281  after  the  seventh,  297  after  the  eighth,  47  after  the 
ninth,  and  11  after  the  tenth.  Two  hundred  and  sixteen 
declared  that  they  always  feel  tired  during  the  work  and 
81  that  they  do  not  know  fatigue  at  aU.  Among  the  tex- 
tile workers  fatigue  seemed  to  be  less  pronounced.  The 
greatest  number  of  cases  of  fatigue  was  reported  by  them 
not  before  the  eighth  working  hour,  and  a  much  larger 
percentage  than  among  the  miners  declared  that  they 
never  feel  any  special  fatigue.  The  metal  workers  too 
complain  only  in  relatively  f«w  cases  of  fatigue  before 
the  sixth  or  seventh  hour,  and  the  majority  report  to  be 
free  from  fatigue. 

The  changes  of  efficiency  during  a  working  period  are, 
however,  not  dependent  only  upon  the  increasing  fatigue. 
We  mentioned  one  other  factor  before,  namely,  the  in- 
creasing adaptation  to  the  work  which  consists  of  a  better 
setting  in  the  whole  mind  body-system.  This  improve- 
ment shows  itself  naturally  in  the  beginning  of  each  work- 
ing period  most  strongly.  It  is  the  time  of  wanning  up 
for  the  work.  If  in  an  experimental  way  a  detailed  record 
is  taken  of  the  rapidity  with  which  a  fair  average  work- 
ingman  is  performing  his  task,  it  can  indeed  be  found 
that  the  first  part  of  the  period  shows  a  slow  increase  of 
efficiency  and  that  the  best  work  is  secured  after  the  first 
half  hour  or  hour.  When  a  few  hours  of  sharpest  work 
have  passed  by,  fatigue  begins  to  interfere  and  to  reduce 
quantity  and  quality. 


Inner  Efficiency  203 

Yet  secondary  features  make  the  situation  still  more 
complicated.  Experiment  shows,  for  instance,  that 
toward  the  end  of  the  period  a  new  increase  of  efl&ciency 
sets  in.  The  feeling  of  the  approach  of  the  resting  period 
works  as  a  new  mental  stimulation  which  for  a  while  over- 
comes the  inhibition  of  fatigue.  Besides  these  factors 
large  periodic  waves  in  the  efficiency  of  the  individual 
worker  can  be  observed.  In  the  periods  after  a  meal  the 
mental  energy  is  somewhat  decreased.  Independent  of 
the  distribution  of  meals,  however,  the  various  phases 
of  the  day  re-enforce  and  depress  the  working  power.  It 
climbs  and  sinks  with  the  sun.  But  great  individual  dif- 
ferences remain  noticeable.  Most  men  are  freshest  for 
work  after  the  night's  sleep,  but  not  a  few  are  not  fully 
awake  with  the  morning.  Their  nervous  system  is 
stirred  up  slowly  by  the  excitations  of  the  day  and  they 
are  most  fit  for  work  in  the  latter  part  of  the  day's 
course.  This  difference,  however,  is  much  more  sig- 
nificant for  those  whose  vocation  demands  more  intel- 
lectual than  physical  energy.  Finally,  the  year  itself 
brings  its  changes.  Winter  time  is  a  period  of  reduced 
efficiency. 

Blood  Cieculation  in  Fatigue 

Only  through  most  modem  investigations  have  the 
scientists  gained  somewhat  more  insight  into  the  auto- 
matic mechanisms  which  regulate  the  efficiency  of  the 
organs  in  the  body  and  which  are  to  a  high  degree  inde- 
pendent of  our  mere  good-will.  Experiment  seems  to  in- 
dicate that  special  brain  centers  regulate  automatically 
the  flow  of  blood  to  the  muscles  in  the  interest  of  efficient 
work.  If  the  right  foot,  for  instance,  is  lifting  a  weight 
rhythmically,  the  blood  does  not  stream  only  to  the 
muscles  of  the  foot  which  needs  the  greater  blood  supply 


204  Business  Psychology 

directly  for  the  strong  exertion,  but  it  also  flows  to  the 
arms.  If  during  the  experiment  the  arm  is  held  in  a 
closed  receptacle  filled  with  lukewarm  water,  a  so-called 
plethysmograph,  the  water  rises  in  a  finely  graded  tube 
when  the  arm  swells  with  an  increase  of  blood  supply 
and  the  water  sinks  when  the  arm  shrinks  from  a  with- 
drawal of  the  blood.  This  regulation  of  the  flow  of  blood 
is  controlled  by  the  nerves  which  dilate  or  contract  the 
blood  vessels.  If  the  blood  flows  to  the  arm,  it  means 
that  the  blood  vessels  in  the  arm  become  wider,  while 
those  in  the  trunk,  especially  in  the  digestive  organs,  be- 
come contracted.  The  blood  is  taken  away  from  the 
abdomen  and  thrown  into  the  arms  and  legs  which  need 
it  for  the  muscular  work.  This  shifting  of  the  blood  to 
the  places  where  it  is  most  needed  must  be  the  work  of  a 
central  nervous  apparatus  which  evidently  responds  to 
the  muscle  activity  in  any  part  of  the  body  by  furnishing 
new  blood  to  all  the  limbs. 

As  soon  as  the  work  becomes  strongly  fatiguing,  this 
same  nerve  center  produces  the  opposite  effect.  The  ex- 
haustion of  the  muscle  stimulates  the  center  to  a  reversal 
in  the  distribution  of  blood.  In  this  experiment  as  soon 
as  the  lifting  of  the  foot  reaches  a  point  where  the 
muscles  seem  at  the  end  of  their  energies  the  blood  is 
withdrawn  from  all  the  limbs,  the  exhausted  foot  and  at 
the  same  time  the  arm  in  the  receptacle  become  deprived 
of  the  full  stream,  and  the  blood  goes  to  the  trunk.  Even 
a  continuation  of  the  mental  nerve-impulse  to  go  on  with 
the  work  would  thus  find  an  unfit  apparatus.  The  muscles 
in  which  the  blood  vessels  are  contracted  could  not  keep 
up  the  work. 

But  the  experiment  suggests  at  the  same  time  a  way 
to  help  the  worker  through  this  same  mechanism.  As  soon 
as  the  foot  is  overfatigued  by  the  raising  of  the  weight 


Inner  Efficiency  205 

and  the  blood  is  withdrawn  from  it,  the  contraction  of 
some  other  muscles,  for  instance,  of  the  hands,  must  work 
as  a  new  stimulus  on  that  automatic  center  in  the  brain 
and  must  produce  a  new  reversal  in  the  blood  supply.  It 
can  be  seen  that  in  this  case  a  strong  muscle  contraction 
in  the  hands  does  indeed  draw  the  blood  again  to  the 
limbs  and  therefore  also  to  the  exhausted  foot.  In  other 
words,  if  one  part  of  the  body  is  highly  fatigued  by  work, 
the  chief  effect,  namely,  the  lack  of  blood  supply  for  the 
continuation  of  labor,  can  be  overcome  by  some  forcible 
muscle  contractions  in  another  unfatigued  part  of  the 
body. 

Mental  and  Emotional  Influences 

We  have  not  yet  spoken  of  the  strictly  mental  in- 
fluences, especially  the  emotional  ones,  which  after  all 
must  determine  the  amount  of  work  more  than  any  phys- 
ical mechanisms.  The  artisan  who  does  not  like  his  work 
and  has  no  motives  for  standing  at  his  lathe  and  who 
prefers  to  spend  his  time  in  playing  cards,  reduces  his 
output  by  his  laziness  more  than  any  fatigue  could  re- 
duce it.  And  his  neighbor  who  is  stirred  by  ambition,  and 
by  the  love  of  his  work,  and  by  the  craving  for  money, 
will  produce  more  by  these  mental  sources  of  energy  than 
by  a  mere  hygiene  of  rest.  To  be  sure,  in  contrasting 
such  mental  motives  with  the  physical  mechanisms  we 
do  not  mean  that  they  are  less  accompanied  by  physical 
brain-processes. 

Laziness  and  industry,  joyfulness  and  weariness  at 
work,  are  the  mental  aspects  of  nervous  processes,  and 
we  certainly  cannot  understand  their  effect  on  our  be- 
havior and  activity  if  we  do  not  give  fullest  attention  to 
the  physical  aspect  of  these  processes.  It  may  even  be 
said  that  the  progress  of  physiology  in  our  day  has 


206  Bitsiness  Psychology 

brought  us  nearer  to  an  understanding  of  these  emo- 
tional experiences  than  any  merely  mental  study  of  them 
has  ever  allowed  before. 

Physiological  Factobs  if  Emotiom 

"We  understand  the  principle  if  we  hear  about  an  ex- 
periment like  tliis.  A  quiet,  playful  cat  is  in  a  cage.  Now 
a  dog  is  brought  near  and  barks  at  her.  At  once  her 
whole  expression  and  behavior  change.  Her  back  be- 
comes curved,  her  fur  bristles,  the  whole  body  is  in  the 
highest  tension,  ready  for  attack.  What  has  happened! 
The  physiological  chemist  has  found  an  entirely  new  re- 
ply to  the  question.  There  is  in  the  cat*8  body  a  little 
gland  above  the  kidney  and  that  gland  produces  a  chemic- 
al substance,  adrenalin,  which  it  empties  into  the  blood 
circulation.  If  a  small  quantity  of  blood  is  taken  from 
the  cat  before  the  dog  appears,  no  trace  of  adrenalin  can 
be  found  in  it,  but  a  few  seconds  after  the  dog  begins  his 
barking,  the  gland  has  done  its  work,  adrenalin  has  been 
injected  into  the  blood,  and  the  chemist  can  show  its 
presence.  It  is  this  adrenalin  which  produces  all  the 
other  effects  of  the  cat's  excitement,  which  makes  the 
hair  stand  up  and  the  whole  body  enter  into  attacking 
movements.  These  adrenalin  glands  play  a  similar  role 
in  the  human  organism  and  they  are  not  the  only  glands 
in  the  body  which  empty  their  chemical  products  into 
the  blood. 

To  be  sure,  the  chemical  products  of  most  of  the  glands 
either  leave  the  body,  as  in  the  case  of  the  sweat  glands 
or  the  tear  glands,  or  are  poured  into  the  food  channel, 
like  the  saliva  in  the  mouth  or  the  pepsin  of  the  stomach 
or  the  bile  of  the  liver.  But  other  glands,  like  the  thyroid 
glands  at  the  larynx  or  the  pituitary  glands  at  the  base  of 
the  brain,  send  their  chemical  products  into  the  blood, 


Inner  Efficiency 


207 


and  there  they  circulate  and  affect  and  finally  poison  the 
brain  and  the  spinal  cord  just  as  much  as  any  substance 
introduced  from  without,  like  alcohol  or  cocaine.  It 
seems  that  the  activity  of  these  inner  glands  plays  an  im- 
portant role  in  our  emotions  and  is  responsible  for  much 
of  the  increased  or  decreased  stimulation  of  the  motor 


Ttit  WOnUJ  Of  WPtRIENCE  XEM 

fwn  TMt  wwpoiKT  or  rituN6 


The  Mind  of  the  Business  Man  as  seen  frcmi  the  viewpoint  of 
Thinking,  Feeling,  and  Willing. 


centers.  Enthusiasm  could  not  strengthen  our  power 
and  worry  could  not  decrease  our  power  so  much  if  the 
whole  system  of  glands  in  our  body  did  not  co-operate  in 
the  process.  The  mental  depression  stops  the  normal 
activity  of  our  stomach  glands,  and  this  ruins  our  appe- 


208  Business  Psychology 

tite  and  our  digestion.     This  lowers  the  whole  vitality 
of  the  organism  and  the  efficient  ability  of  the  brain. 

All  the  popular  writings  about  the  great  value  of 
cheerfulness  in  business  life,  of  optimism,  and  enthusi- 
asm, and  jolly  good  fellowship,  and  the  still  more  fre- 
quent preaching  against  worry  and  faint-heartedness, 
have  their  core  of  truth,  first  of  all,  in  this  physiological 
connection.  The  more  we  understand  the  individual 
mind  and  brain  as  an  automatically  working  system,  the 
better  we  recognize  that  efficient  work  must  be  dependent 
upon  the  emotional  setting.  On  the  other  hand  we  know 
that  emotions  are  contagious.  An  atmosphere  of  con- 
fidence and  pleasant  cheerfulness  in  a  whole  working 
force  is  not  seldom  the  result  of  a  joyful  temperament 
of  one  or  of  a  few  men  in  the  center.  Still  more  often 
ill-temper  and  irritability  at  one  responsible  point  may 
bring  a  large  establishment  into  a  mood  in  which  the  best 
energy  for  efficient  work  is  sapped  beforehand. 

Pbactical  Bbabing 

Everjrthing  which  satisfies  or  dissatisfies  the  emotional 
demands  must  accordingly  play  an  important  role  in  the 
actual  efficiency  independent  from  the  conscious  will  of 
the  individual  worker.  He  may  be  ever  so  faithful  and  in- 
dustrious and  ready  to  work.  Nevertheless  he  cannot 
give  his  best  if  he  is  depressed  by  the  hopelessness  of  his 
position,  by  the  uncertainty  of  his  engagement,  by  the 
insufficiency  of  his  salary  or  his  wages,  by  the  disap- 
pointment in  his  career,  by  the  disgust  at  the  way  he  is 
treated,  by  the  dislike  of  the  work  itself.  Any  wise 
administration  will  be  directed  toward  the  supplying  of 
encouraging  motives.  A  short  working  day  with  ample 
provision  for  leisure  has  everywhere  proved  profitable. 
The  workingman  can  do  in  nine  hours  as  much  as  in  ten, 


Inner  Efficiency  209 

not  only  because  he  is  less  fatigued,  but  also  because  the 
quality  and  quantity  of  his  work  are  improved  by  the 
happier  mood  with  which  he  enjoys  the  life  which  brings ' 
ampler  chance  for  recreation.  The  hope  for  extra  earn- 
ings, the  bonus  and  premium  systems,  the  fear  of  fines, 
and  all  the  similar  appeals  whip  up  the  mental  bodily 
energies  directly,  but  their  total  effect  must  never  be 
evaluated  without  reference  to  the  general  emotional 
influence. 

The  social  psychologist  will  not  overlook  that  often 
the  emotional  influence  of  economic  theories  must  be  im- 
portant for  the  outcome.  The  workingman  who  feels  that 
the  society  to  which  he  belongs  and  the  whole  community 
treat  the  laborer  with  cruel  injustice  and  who  accord- 
ingly fulfills  his  daily  work  in  mill  or  mine  or  factory 
with  grumbling  and  bitterness  cannot  possibly  be  such  a 
useful  member  of  the  industrial  organization  as  one  who 
is  satisfied  with  the  relations  between  employer  and  em- 
ployes, between  capital  and  labor  in  general. 

TEST  QUESTIONS 

1.  How  does  alcohol  affect  a  person's  ability  to  perform  re- 
curring mechanical  operations? 

2.  How  does  it  affect  the  motor  impulses  ? 

3.  What  are  the  probable  causes  of  fatigue  in  work  ? 

4.  "When  are  long  and  when  short  rest  periods  necessary? 

5.  Is  interruption  of  work  essential  to  rest  T    Illustrate. 

6.  Why  are  there  periodic  curves  in  the  efficiency  of  the 
worker? 

7.  Why  does  exercising  the  right  arm  also  strengthen  the 
left  arm? 

8.  How  do  emotions  affect  the  physical  condition  of  a  worker  ? 
How  do  they  affect  his  efficiency? 

9.  Why  is  contentment  a  valuable  asset  in  a  workhig  force? 


21f  Business  Psychology 

10.  What  are  some  of  the  physical  factors  of  the  environment 
which  contribute  to  the  contentment  of  the  worker? 

11.  What  are  some  of  the  mental  factors  in  the  environment  of 
the  worker  which  contribute  to  contentment? 

12.  Would  the  system  of  wage  payment  used  in  an  establishment 
affect  the  worker's  state  of  contentment?     How? 

13.  How  do  the  physiological  factors  of  a  person  affect  his 
emotional  condition?     Illustrate. 

14.  Explain  just  how  laziness  is  the  mental  aspect  of  nervous 
processes.  What  mental  step  is  necessary  to  a  genuine  cure  of 
laziness? 

15.  From  the  viewpoint  of  what  three  mental  factors  is  the 
experience  of  the  business  man  made  up  ?  See  the  chart  on  the 
mind  of  the  business  man. 


PART  FIVE  — INDIVIDUAL  DIFFERENCES 

CHAPTER  XV 
vocatioital  fitness 

Misfits  in  Life 

"We  have  analyzed  the  general  conditions  for  efficiency 
in  commercially  valuable  work.  The  idea  is  that  they 
hold  good  for  everyone.  But  everybody  knows  that 
under  the  same  conditions  different  individuals  achieve 
very  different  results.  We  have  to  give  our  attention 
now  to  the  personal  factor  which  gives  commercial  and 
industrial  life  an  abundance  of  shades.  Every  mental 
feature  which  we  have  analyzed,  knowledge  and  interest 
and  will,  can  vary,  and  any  variation  of  memory  or  at- 
tention or  emotion  or  energy  or  thought  must  create  con- 
ditions which  are  especially  favorable  or  unfavorable  for 
the  special  business  undertaking.  The  great  problem 
which  was  almost  neglected  until  only  recently  is  how  far 
the  mental  conditions  of  the  special  individual  are  related 
to  his  special  task.  This  must  lead  immediately  to  the 
further  question  as  to  how  we  can  examine  the  personal 
mental  traits  and  how  the  results  of  such  tests  can  be 
made  serviceable  to  the  selection  and  distribution  of  com- 
mercial and  industrial  workers.  This  is  in  our  day 
almost  the  center  of  business  psychology. 

The  importance  of  the  problem  cannot  be  overesti- 
matod.  Of  course  it  is  in  no  way  confined  to  the  business 
world.    In  iti  widest  setting  it  refers  to  the  whole  social 

211 


212  Business  Psychology 

sphere  of  vocational  activity.  Everywhere  we  meet  the 
difficulty  of  finding  the  right  man  for  the  right  place.  It 
is  significant  for  the  professional  and  academic  vocations 
as  well  as  for  the  commercial  and  industrial  ones.  But 
inasmuch  as  every  vocation  has  its  bread-earning  side, 
the  professional  work  too  can  be  subordinated  to  the 
point  of  view  of  a  business  undertaking. 

The  gravity  of  the  question  is  evident  to  everyone  who 
looks  with  open  eyes  into  the  turmoil  of  mankind.  How- 
ever sad  it  may  be,  it  cannot  be  denied  that  a  majority 
of  men  and  women  who  have  to  fight  in  the  struggle  for 
existence  themselves  have  the  feeling  that  they  do  not 
stand  in  the  right  place.  They  feel  disappointment,  per- 
haps they  consider  themselves  as  failures,  and  yet  they 
are  instinctively  convinced  that  in  some  other  place  and 
under  some  other  conditions  they  could  have  done  better 
and  would  have  succeeded  to  a  higher  degree.  They  know 
that  it  is  too  late,  or  they  do  not  even  know  in  what  direc- 
tion to  change.  Too  often  life  throws  them  cruelly  on 
the  street  without  any  guarantee  that  they  can  find  by 
their  own  efforts  the  place  where  they  will  do  better. 

At  the  same  time  we  hear  from  the  employers  every- 
where the  complaint  that  really  efficient  employes  are 
lacking.  Certainly  in  every  bread-earning  occupation 
there  is  plenty  of  room  at  the  top.  The  most  pitiful  sit- 
uation shows  itself  in  the  industrial  establishments.  In 
many  large  factories  the  average  length  of  service  is 
alarmingly  short.  "In  an  institution  manufacturing 
agricultural  implements  and  employing  on  the  average 
2,400,  7,200  are  employed  every  year.  In  a  well-known 
steel  mill  26,000  men  pass  annually  through  the  institu- 
tion in  order  to  maintain  an  average  working  force  of 
8,000. ''    In  not  a  few  big  establishments  the  changes  in 


Vocational  Fitness  213 

the  personnel  are  still  more  rapid  and  certainly  a  com- 
plete turn  over  every  year  is  not  unusual. 

How  could  it  be  otherwise?  Every  year  millions  of 
boys  and  girls  leave  the  schoolroom  to  find  some  occupa- 
tion. Numberless  motives  lead  them  hither  and  thither, 
but  how  exceptional  are  the  cases  in  which  any  attention 
at  all  is  given  to  the  most  important  condition  of  efficient 
life-work,  the  mental  fitness  of  the  worker  for  his  task! 
The  most  superficial  impulses  determine  the  turns  of  the 
road.  Chance  information  and  chance  advice,  haphazard 
impressions  of  good  opportunities,  above  all  the  accident 
of  a  vacant  place,  the  wish  to  be  with  friends,  the  con- 
venient location,  family  traditions,  and  a  hundred  other 
secondary  features  are  decisive,  while  the  primary  fac- 
tors are  neglected.  Wherever  a  strong  talent  exists,  it, 
of  course,  finds  its  right  setting,  but  the  average  is  satis- 
fied to  be  pushed  passively  into  some  chance  group  or 
actively  to  seek  something  with  which  he  has  no  internal 
contact  and  in  which  he  seeks,  after  all,  merely  an  easy 
way  to  earn  a  living,  unconcerned  about  the  abilities,  dis- 
positions, and  acquirements  of  his  mind  and  brain. 

The  result  of  such  helter-skelter  distribution  is  then 
necessarily  disappointing.  The  nation  is  justly  enthusi- 
astic over  the  new  movements  to  conserve  the  natural 
resources  of  the  country  which  have  been  wasted  reck- 
lessly. We  know  that  it  is  an  inexcusable  economic  pol- 
icy to  despoil  the  forests  and  the  mines  and  the  soil  by 
thinking  only  of  the  needs  of  the  day  and  neglecting  the 
needs  of  the  coming  generations.  But  surely  the  habitual 
waste  of  natural  resources  is  small  compared  with  the 
tremendous  waste  of  human  energies  in  the  markets  of 
the  land.  Men  and  women  who  are  willing  to  give  their 
best  are  carelessly  thrown  into  work  at  which  their  men- 
tal abilities  force  them  to  an  unsatisfactory  output.    With 

15 


214  Business  Psychology 

better  care  their  efforts  could  be  so  directed  that  they 
would  become  a  source  of  wealth  instead  of  being  a  bur- 
den to  themselves  and  to  the  community. 

Vocational  Bureaus 

Only  in  most  recent  years  can  systematic  endeavors  to 
relieve  the  strain  of  this  social  situation  be  traced.  A 
most  promising  beginning  has  been  made  in  the  form  of 
the  vocational  bureaus,  of  which  the  first  was  started  in 
Boston  a  few  years  ago.  It  grew  out  of  a  neighborly 
effort  to  help  the  boys  who  leave  the  elementary  school 
to  find  work  which  they  would  like.  In  a  spirit  of  social 
friendliness  without  any  scientific  ambitions  the  coun- 
selor recognized  how  important  it  must  be  to  bring  the 
true  interests  of  the  boys  to  light  and  to  advise  them  as 
to  the  vocational  roles  in  which  they  would  find  the  best 
chance  to  satisfy  their  personal  inclinations.  In  follow- 
ing out  this  plan  he  began  to  analyze  the  talents  and  dis- 
positions of  the  boys  and  to  supplement  their  school 
records  by  observations  of  their  natural  tendencies.  In 
this  way  he  became  able  to  help  many  an  ambitious  and 
intelligent  young  fellow  to  turn  to  lines  of  work  of  which 
he  himself  would  never  have  thought  on  account  of  lack 
of  knowledge  concerning  the  social  opportunities.  This 
charitable  social  aid  grew  into  an  organized  effort,  and  a 
little  bureau  was  established.  Very  correctly  many  fac- 
tors were  considered  there  at  the  same  time.  The  analy- 
sis of  the  mental  traits  and  tendencies  had  to  be  only  one 
of  these  factors.  Others  were  quite  properly  the  demand 
and  supply  in  the  various  callings,  the  wages,  the  re- 
quirements as  to  bodily  strength  in  various  places,  the 
chances  for  health  and  hygiene,  the  opportunities  for 
later  promotion,  the  social  aspects  of  various  vocations, 
and  BO  on. 


Vocaiional  Fitness  215 

Bnt  the  more  this  movement  expanded  and  the  more  it 
became  a  routine  establishment  which  was  imitated  in 
other  municipalities,  the  more  the  purely  psychological 
analysis  of  the  mental  qualities  of  the  individual  appli- 
cants was  pushed  into  the  background.  On  the  one  side 
the  nearest  duty  of  the  bureaus  became  the  finding  of 
places  for  the  boys  and  girls,  that  is,  they  developed  in 
the  direction  of  employment  bureaus,  and  on  the  other, 
more  important  side,  they  undertook  thorough  researches 
into  the  actual  conditions  of  the  various  vocations  and  the 
chances  they  offer  as  to  wages,  promotion,  health,  and  so 
on,  with  special  reference  to  various  localities.  Moreover 
they*- put  much  effort  into  the  development  of  vocational 
counselors  who  could  spread  interest  in  the  vocational 
problems  throughout  the  country.  But  under  the  pressure 
of  these  various  interests  the  psychological  examination 
was  slowly  crowded  out.  The  vocational  counselors  felt 
that  to  examine  the  mind  without  exact  scientific  methods 
would  be  rather  amateurish  and  might  easily  mislead 
more  than  help.  On  the  other  hand  they  felt  that  true 
scientific  methods  for  vocational  guidance  on  the  basis 
of  mental  qualities  were  not  as  yet  sufficiently  developed 
and  that  the  next  move  must  come  at  first  from  the 
scientific  psychologists  themselves. 

Psychology  in  Vocational  Guidance 

This  describes  the  situation  pretty  exactly,  as  indeed 
nothing  can  be  gained  when  psychological  laymen  begin 
haphazard  experiments  on  the  memory  or  attention  or 
will  or  intelligence  of  a  boy  or  girl  without  any  thorough 
training  in  the  proper  methods  which  have  been  devel- 
oped in  the  psychological  laboratory.  And  the  counselors 
are  not  in  the  wrong  if  they  add  that  the  psychologists 
themselves  are  not  prepared  to  furnish  standard  methods 


216  Business  Psychology 

for  the  examination  of  the  mental  traits  which  are 
needed  for  the  particular  business  positions.  Every- 
thing is  at  its  beginning,  and  the  psychologists  have  no 
right  to  push  their  tentative  methods  too  early  into  the 
vocational  bureaus.  They  are  fully  aware  that  the  an- 
swer to  the  question,  "What  vocation  ought  a  boy  to 
choose?"  is  far  more  difficult  than  the  answer  to  the 
other  question,  **  Which  boys  are  fit  for  a  particular  voca- 
tion!" The  psychologist  feels  therefore  that  this  latter 
question  ought  to  be  studied  first.  He  can  examine  which 
boys  are  mentally  fit  for  the  requirements  of  a  position 
of  chauffeur  or  shorthand  writer  or  aviator  or  traveling 
salesman.  This  is  much  easier  than  to  ask  in  general  in 
which  vocation  a  particular  boy  will  succeed  best. 

Psychology  Required  in  Sciextific  Management 

But  this  more  accessible  problem  has  also  been  ap- 
proached very  seriously  by  a  popular  movement  which, 
like  that  of  the  vocational  bureaus,  began  rather  far  from 
laboratory  psychology.  This  other  movement  is  that  of 
scientific  management.  It  is  well  known  how  this  im- 
portant and  successful  movement  started  with  the  study 
of  shop  administration  and  led  to  a  thorough  analysis  of 
the  functions  involved  in  industrial  life.  The  endeavors 
of  the  scientific  management  engineers  suggested  many 
improvements  which  referred  to  all  individuals  alike. 
The  new  distribution  of  work,  the  careful  simplification 
of  necessary  motions,  the  perfect  adjustment  of  the 
various  workers  to  one  another,  the  introduction  of  well- 
graded  incentives  for  high-class  work,  the  scientific 
improvement  of  tools,  and  many  other  elements  of 
scientific  management  are  valuable  for  every  individual. 
But  it  is  necessary  that  the  insistent  carrying-through  of 
the  principles  lead  also  quickly  to  a  consideration  of 


Vocational  Fitness  217 

individual  differences.  If  a  piece  of  work  is  to  be  per- 
formed truly  in  the  best  possible  way,  it  may  be  taken  for 
granted  that  a  selection  of  the  proper  workingmen  is  an 
essential  condition. 

Physical  traits  were  considered  first.  Some  mental 
functions,  like  acuity  of  vision  or  delicacy  of  touch,  then 
had  to  be  considered,  and  finally  in  certain  cases  the 
rapidity  of  will-action.  But  even  these  time  measure- 
ments of  mental  impulses  were  dealt  with  in  a  general 
way.  A  subtle  examination  of  the  significant  mental 
functions  concerned  was  never  in  the  programme  of 
scientific  management.  It  was  felt  that  much  help  might 
be  gained  from  that  side,  but  again  the  mastering  of  that 
task  was  left  to  the  psychologists.  On  the  whole  it  must 
be  acknowledged  that  wherever  the  engineers  of  the 
scientific  management  movement  approached  the  men- 
tal problems,  they  took  them  up  in  a  popular  way  without 
any  reference  to  the  progress  of  the  exact  psychology 
which  has  interested  us  throughout  our  discussions. 

The  professional  psychologists  have  finally  recognized 
the  importance  of  the  questions  which  the  vocational 
bureau  movement  and  the  scientific  management  move- 
ment have  left  unanswered.  They  saw  from  their  point 
of  view  that  after  all  the  fundamental  problems  of  both 
movements  can  be  solved  only  by  a  systematic  advance 
in  the  application  of  strictly  psychological  methods.  The 
peculiar  characteristics  of  individual  minds  are  respon- 
sible for  the  fitness  or  unfitness  of  a  boy  or  girl  for  spe- 
cial work  and  only  through  careful  observation  of  these 
various  mental  traits  can  it  become  possible  to  say  be- 
forehand which  bread-earning  occupation  is  the  most 
advantageous  one  for  a  special  individual  and  which  of 
a  number  of  applicants  will  be  most  satisfactory  for  a 
special  position. 


218  Business  Psychology 

TEST  QUESTIONS 

1.  What  is  the  Mtuation  in  the  industrial  world  with  reference 
to  the  adaptability  of  individual  workers  to  their  work  ? 

2.  Are  you  a  misfit  in  your  own  position?     If  so,  how  can 
you  remedy  the  situation  ? 

3.  What  assistance  can  vocational  bureaus  give  the  individual 
in  choosing  his  life-work  t 

4.  How  can  psychology  aid  the  movement  for  scientific  man* 
agementf 


CHAPTER  XVI 
indivibual  mentai.  traits 

Importance  of  Cobbect  Classification 

The  observation  that  men  are  different  is  of  course  not 
only  familiar  to  everyone  in  practical  affairs  but  is  em- 
phasized by  every  foreman  and  every  employer,  by  every 
storekeeper  and  every  traveling  salesman.  They  know- 
that  the  political  conviction  that  men  are  born  equal  does 
not  contradict  the  fact  that  no  two  men  behave  exactly 
alike  and  that  their  mental  physiognomies  show  as  many 
differences  as  their  faces.  The  skillful  salesman  in  the 
store  is  proud  of  his  ability  to  deal  successfully  with  every 
type  of  customer  and  to  recognize  with  a  sure  eye  what 
kind  of  approach  is  needed  for  the  particular  individual. 

Popular  business  psychology  is  mostly  confined  to  a 
superficial  classification  of  large  groups  of  men  on  the 
basis  of  general  impressions.  The  traits  considered  in 
such  unscientific  systems  are  not  really  ultimate  and 
elementary  factors  of  the  mind,  but  complex  products 
which  may  result  from  very  different  mental  conditions. 
It  is  as  unscientific  as  if  we  were  to  classify  the  animals 
as  animals  in  the  water,  and  on  the  earth,  and  in  the  air, 
and  again  the  animals  in  the  water  as  those  which  are 
large  or  small.  It  is  evident  that  through  such  a  super- 
ficial classification  the  class  of  water  animals,  for  in- 
stance, would  comprise  creatures  which  are  zoologically 
as  unlike  as  the  whale,  the  salmon,  the  lobster,  the  star- 
fish, and  the  jellyfish.     The  zoologist  goes  back  to  the 

219 


220  Business  Psychology 

real  structural  differences  and  bases  his  classifications 
on  them;  the  psychologist  cannot  do  otherwise. 

UsB  OF  POPULAB  CLASSIFICATIONS 

Discriminations  and  classifications  as  they  suggest 
themselves  from  the  point  of  view  of  practical  life  may 
nevertheless  often  refer  to  real  psychological  traits,  and 
no  psychologist  will  underestimate  the  value  of  such  ob- 
servations. He  will  only  insist  that  they  offer  nothing 
but  crude  material  from  which  in  the  best  case  sug- 
gestions for  true  psychological  differentiation  may  be 
gained. 

A  practical  traveling  salesman,  Mr.  Charles  Lindgren, 
who  claims  to  have  sold  to  the  largest  merchants  in  the 
world  and  to  the  smallest  country  dealers  as  well,  and 
whose  experiences  have  led  him  from  the  Atlantic  to  the 
Pacific,  surely  shows  himself  a  close  observer  and  student 
of  mood  and  motives  when  he  groups  the  buyers  who  can 
be  met  into  the  following  long  list  of  types.  There  is 
the  buyer  who  loves  to  argue ;  the  disputative  buyer ;  the 
opinionated  buyer;  the  inflexible  buyer;  the  impolite 
buyer ;  the  irritable  buyer ;  the  buyer  of  choleric  temper ; 
the  aggressive  buyer;  the  ''know  it  all"  buyer;  the  dis- 
agreeable buyer ;  the  antipathetic  buyer ;  the  buyer  who  is 
an  egoist ;  the  buyer  who  brags ;  the  conservative  buyer ; 
the  curious  buyer;  the  conceited  buyer;  the  buyer  that 
cannot  say  '*no";  the  communicative  buyer;  the  credulous 
buyer ;  the  cunning  buyer ;  the  cold-mannered  buyer ;  the 
buyer  who  is  concentrative ;  the  buyer  who  likes  to  com- 
pare; the  buyer  who  is  changeable;  the  cheerful  buyer; 
the  deceitful  buyer;  the  buyer  who  intends  to  defraud; 
the  buyer  who  doubts ;  the  dignified  buyer ;  the  buyer  who 
drinks ;  the  envious  buyer ;  the  buyer  who  is  always  busy ; 
the  extravagant  buyer ;  the  buyer  who  is  easily  influenced ; 


Mental  Traits  221 

the  buyer  who  is  easily  rattled ;  the  flighty  buyer ;  the  fas- 
tidious buyer;  the  forgetful  buyer;  the  buyer  who  buys 
for  friendship 's  sake ;  the  buyer  who  is  an  old  fogy ;  the 
buyer  of  large  femininity ;  the  strongly  masculine  buyer ; 
the  buyer  who  is  a  grafter;  the  buyer  who  likes  good 
times ;  the  buyer  who  is  gullible ;  the  buyer  who  is  a  hypo- 
crite; the  honest  buyer;  the  buyer  who  is  a  good  judge 
of  human  nature ;  the  impulsive  buyer ;  the  buyer  who  is 
an  imitator ;  the  incredulous  buyer ;  the  buyer  who  lies ; 
the  mirthful  buyer ;  the  malicious  buyer ;  the  methodical 
buyer;  the  optimistic  buyer;  the  pessimistic  buyer;  the 
suave  buyer ;  the  open-minded  buyer ;  the  taciturn  buyer ; 
the  suspicious  buyer;  the  buyer  who  is  a  plunger;  the 
over-cautious  buyer;  the  buyer  who  is  an  observer;  and 
the  buyer  who  is  a  thinker. 

It  is  clear  that  such  a  grouping  anyhow  does  not  really 
characterize  the  various  personalities,  but  merely  empha- 
sizes particular  aspects;  any  buyer  may  be  in  quite  a 
number  of  these  so-called  classes.  Moreover  the  analysis 
is  accidental,  and  the  list  might  therefore  be  prolonged 
without  limit.  Of  course,  just  in  the  case  of  the  buyers 
and  customers  the  scientific  psychologist  would  hardly 
feel  an  interest  to  try  to  do  better.  He  knows  that  a  thor- 
ough analysis  from  a  psychological  point  of  view  would 
give  very  different  results.  He  would  secure  really  char- 
acteristic groups  which  would  suggest  in  every  case  the 
type  of  selling  which  would  have  the  best  chance  for  suc- 
cess. But  he  would  know  that  his  ideal  method  would  be 
entirely  impracticable,  as  the  relation  of  buying  and  sell- 
ing would  never  admit  any  exact  experimental  scrutiny. 
The  customer  who  enters  a  store  to  select  a  fur  coat  can- 
not first  be  invited  to  sit  down  for  psychological  experi- 
ments in  order  that  his  degree  of  suggestibility  or  his 
rhythm  of  attention  be  exactly  determined  before  the 


222  Business  Psychology 

salesman  begins  to  exhibit  the  new  importations  and  to 
marshal  his  arguments.  Yet  even  to  the  salesman  some 
truly  psychological  grouping  may  be  helpful  as  soon  as 
easily  recognizable  traits  of  the  various  groups  can  be 
found. 

We  shall  speak  later  of  this  possibility  of  recognizing, 
without  direct  experiments,  mental  traits  from  some  out- 
side signal  and  from  some  superficial  symptom,  but  surely 
the  scientific  psychologists  have  little  to  offer  along  this 
line  as  yet,  and  can  hardly  complain  that  this  whole  field 
of  salesmanship  as  far  as  the  individual  differences  are 
in  question  is  still  essentially  under  the  control  of  popular 
psychology.  The  scientific  method  is  so  far  much  more 
adjusted  to  the  task  of  standardizing  the  methods  of 
selling  and  of  developing  the  right  reactions  fitting  for 
every  possible  sale  than  of  adapting  the  transaction  to 
the  individual  traits. 

Classifications  into  Contrasting  Tendencies 

A  popular  classification  without  special  reference  to 
exact  mental  measurements  and  even  without  reference  to 
elementary  mental  traits  has  better  chances  to  yield  val- 
uable results  where  differences  of  abilities  and  inclina- 
tions are  observed.  A  certain  rough  distribution  of 
young  men  into  the  chief  groups  of  business  vocations  can 
indeed  be  well  carried  out  when  not  the  subtle  mental  de- 
tails but  the  main  streams  of  mental  inclinations  are 
noted  by  a  trained  observer.  The  best  method  for  such 
popular  psychological  work  is  the  division  into  contrast- 
ing tendencies  so  that  a  positive  and  a  negative  group  are 
always  confronting  one  another. 

As  an  illustration  of  this  helpful  method,  we  may  point 
to  the  endeavor  of  the  Dean  of  the  College  of  Engineer- 
ing   in    the    University    of    Cincinnati,    Mr.    Hermann 


Mental  Traits  223 

Schneider.  On  the  basis  of  seven  years  of  experience 
with  about  five  hundred  students  who  worked  half  in 
the  academic  department  and  half  in  practical  work  in 
manufacturing,  construction,  and  transportation,  he 
found  that  the  following  pairs  of  qualities  ought  to  be 
considered  if  a  technical  position  is  sought  for  a  man. 

It  ought  to  be  decided  first  whether  he  is  of  a  mental 
or  of  a  manual  type.  Many  people  whose  intellectual 
efficiency  is  strong  are  utter  failures  at  all  kinds  of  work 
requiring  manual  dexterity.  They  would  be  unfit  to  be- 
come machinists  or  molders  or  masons,  while  they  might 
be  excellent  as  designers  or  executives  or  leaders.  Many, 
to  be  sure,  are  efficient  in  both  directions. 

His  next  pair  of  qualities  is  what  he  calls  the  settled 
and  the  roving  type.  The  man  of  the  settled  type  likes 
the  routine  life,  while  the  other  would  suffer  under  a  reg- 
ular repetition  of  the  day's  functions.  He  wants  to  move 
about,  know  people,  see  and  do  new  things.  The  uniform 
work  in  a  shop  in  which  a  standard  product  is  manu- 
factured would  fit  the  one  excellently,  while  it  would  ap- 
pear intolerable  monotony  to  the  other. 

A  third  distinction  which  is  far  too  often  neglected  is 
that  between  the  indoor  and  the  outdoor  man.  We  must 
accept  that  as  a  true  difference  even  though  many  per- 
sons are  rather  neutral.  Sociological  conditions  force 
probably  far  too  many  men  from  the  country  into  the  city 
and  turn  men  who  would  be  successful  outdoors  into 
workers  who  are  unsuccessful  and  unhappy  because  they 
are  obliged  to  spend  their  days  indoors.  To  ignore  such 
personal  differences  and  to  claim  that  good-will  can  over- 
come them  is  very  shortsighted.  Of  course  an  energetic 
man,  however  strong  his  desire  for  outdoor  life,  may  have 
the  energy  to  sit  faithfully  nine  hours  a  day  at  a  desk  in 
a  narrow  back  office,  but  his  psychophysical  energies  will 


224  Business  Psychology 

be  impaired  and  bis  efficiency  wasted  in  spite  of  his  best 
will.  He  is  a  niisfit  and  no  amount  of  will-power  can 
make  him  anything  else. 

Again  we  have  an  important  contrast  in  his  two  classes 
of  directive  and  dependent  personalities.  The  directive 
individuals  naturally  assume  responsibility,  while  the 
others  just  as  naturally  evade  it.  But  it  would  be  entirely 
misleading  to  consider  the  lack  of  directive  inclination  as 
a  trait  of  an  inferior  mind.  Just  as  the  indoor  and  the 
outdoor  men  are  both  equally  good  and  important  for 
different  tasks,  the  man  who  prefers  to  direct  others  and 
the  man  who  is  doing  his  best  when  he  is  relieved  from 
the  duty  of  directing,  both  have  their  important  places 
in  the  business  world.  The  so-called  dependent  mind 
may  produce  much  which  the  directive  mind  could  not 
accomplish. 

Another  group  of  opposites  refers  to  the  expansion  of 
the  scope  to  which  the  individuals  are  best  adapted. 
Some  like  to  give  their  attention  to  an  intricate  bit  of 
mechanism,  while  others  feel  happy  only  with  tasks  of 
large  dimensions.  The  first  may  be  excellent  as  a  watch- 
maker or  as  an  engraver,  while  he  would  be  unfit  as  a 
bridge-builder  or  steel-mill  worker. 

The  following  group  separates  the  adaptable  and  the 
self-centered  personalities.  There  are  indeed  men  who 
very  easily  accept  the  color  of  their  surroundings  and 
are  almost  new  men  in  new  business  places,  while  others 
stick  to  their  strictly  personal  role  and  carry  it  into  every 
new  sphere  of  action. 

Still  more  attention  ought  to  be  given  to  the  difference 
between  deliberate  and  impulsive  men,  the  one  carefully 
thinking  out  the  situation  before  he  acts,  the  other  quick 
at  work,  relying  on  his  instinct  and  even  hardly  profiting 
from  quiet  reasoning. 


Mental  Traits  225 

An  interesting  pair  is  suggested  in  the  classification  of 
dynamic  and  static  persons.  The  dynamic  is  a  man  with 
determination  and  grit  who  makes  the  world  move.  He  is 
the  perpetual  cause  of  changes ;  he  looks  steadily  for  im- 
provements; he  is  never  satisfied;  he  is  radical.  The 
static  mind  is  conservative  and  takes  care  that  the  good 
elements  which  tradition  has  secured  remain  intact  and 
are  not  hastily  overthrown.  He  is  satisfied  with  the 
actual  conditions  because  he  is  inclined  to  see  the  good  in 
them.  Again  it  would  be  hasty  to  claim  that  the  one  is  the 
desirable,  the  other  the  undesirable  element  of  the  practi- 
cal community.  Both  have  their  important  functions, 
and  the  two  may  co-operate  in  the  smallest  workshop  as 
well  as  in  the  great  business  world  at  large. 

SUMMARY  OP  Schneider's  contrasting  tendencies 

Mental  Type  Manual  Type 

Settled  Type  Roving  Type 

Indoor  Man  Outdoor  Man 

Directive  Personality  Dependent  Personality 

Large  Dimension  "Worker  Small  Dimension  Worker 

Adaptable  Personality  Self-Centered  Personality 

Deliberate  Man  Impulsive  Man 

Dynamic  Type  Static  Type 

Psychological  Methods  of  Determining 
Individual  Traits 

The  psychologist  goes  an  entirely  different  way.  He 
naturally  bases  all  observations  of  individualities  on  the 
system  of  mental  processes.  He  groups  the  mental  func- 
tions, both  the  elementary  and  the  complex,  and  in  each 
case  seeks  the  directions  and  limits  of  possible  variations 
from  the  average  to  the  extreme.  The  extreme  variations 
may  lie  in  either  direction,  the  greatest  efficiency  or  the 
greatest  deficiency.     If  the  mental  fimction  which  he 


226  Business  Psychology 

studies  is  musical  ability,  the  genius  who  composes  great 
symphonies  is  as  much  an  extreme  variation  as  the  en- 
tirely unmusical  man  who  cannot  discriminate  any  tone 
intervals. 

We  subdivided  the  mental  processes  into  those  of 
knowledge,  of  interest,  and  of  activity.  The  traditional 
way  is  to  call  it  thinking,  feeling,  and  doing.  In  our  acts 
of  thinking,  including  the  perceptions  and  memories,  we 
try  to  understand  the  world;  in  our  acts  of  feeling,  in- 
cluding our  interest,  our  attention,  our  emotion,  we  take 
an  inner  attitude  toward  the  world;  and  in  our  acts  of 
doing  we  try  to  change  the  world.  The  psychologist,  far 
from  a  simple  classification,  asks  therefore  concerning 
the  first  class :  What  are  the  possible  variations  of  per- 
ception, memory,  and  thought?  As  to  the  second  class, 
What  are  the  variations  of  attention,  feeling,  and  emo- 
tion! And  as  to  the  third.  What  are  the  variations  of  im- 
pulse, will,  and  behavior? 

Pbaoticai.  Hindrances  to  Complete  Measurement 

In  practical  life  we  can  never  even  approach  an  ideal 
completeness  in  the  measurement  of  all  such  functions.  It 
would  take  many  months  to  make  an  exact  record  of  the 
mental  characteristics  of  one  individual  with  the  subtle 
methods  of  the  laboratory.  No  two  persons  among  the 
fifteen  hundred  millions  on  the  globe  are  mentally  alike. 
Much  of  this  variety  depends,  to  be  sure,  not  upon  original 
differences  but  upon  experiences.  Every  one  of  us  has 
seen  and  heard  and  read  different  things  from  his  neigh- 
bor. From  the  first  day  of  life  different  experiences  have 
streamed  through  all  sense  channels  into  his  conscious- 
ness. He  therefore  possesses  different  supplies  of 
memories  and  different  material  for  his  thought  and 
imagination.  Moreover  everyone  went  through  a  different 


On  the  table  in  the  right  side  of  the  picture  stands  a  rather  complex 
kymograph.  The  cylinder  of  this  apparatus  moves  on  a  horizontal  axis  so 
that  the  right-left  movements  of  the  levers  are  recorded.  The  part  of  the 
kymograph  which  forms  the  foreground  consists  of  a  system  of  wheels  by 
which  the  rapidity  of  the  revolution  of  the  cylinder  can  be  altered  from  one 
second  to  eight  hours. 

The  process  which  is  registered  in  this  experiment  is  the  change  of  blood 
pressure  in  the  limbs  under  the  influence  of  mental  acts,  as  well  as  the  effects 
of  fatigue.  The  right  arm  of  the  experimenter  is  in  a  plethysmograph,  a 
tube  filled  with  water.  As  soon  as  the  blood  streams  into  the  arm,  the  water 
presses  the  air  in  the  small  cylinder  at  the  top  and  this  air  pressure  is 
transmitted  by  the  rubber  tube  to  the  levers  of  the  kymograph. 


^  Mental  Traits  227 

order  of  training;  everyone  experienced  some  connections 
more  often  or  more  seldom  than  his  neighbor,  was  more 
often  or  more  seldom  in  a  situation  which  demanded  a 
particular  reaction,  and  tiierefore  his  abilities  are  more 
or  less  developed  than  those  of  the  other  man. 

Even  if  life  had  made  men  after  a  machine  pattern 
all  completely  alike  at  the  day  of  birth  they  would  be 
utterly  unlike  after  being  tossed  about  for  twenty  years 
in  the  world  of  reality.  Even  if  men  were  born  psycho- 
logically equal,  they  would  be  psychologically  entirely 
unequal  after  their  receiving  the  different  influences  from 
parents  and  nurses  and  teachers,  from  books  and  news- 
papers, from  travel  and  church,  from  friends  and  foes. 
Every  success  and  every  disappointment,  every  act  of 
friendship  and  of  love,  every  conversation  and  every 
meeting,  has  left  some  traces  in  the  mind  and  has  contrib- 
uted to  the  incomparable  manif  oldness. 

Inhekited  Dispositions 

Yet  when  the  psychologist  speaks  of  the  importance  of 
individual  differences  of  men  for  practical  life,  he  thinks 
much  less  of  these  acquired  variations  than  of  the  in- 
herited dispositions.  The  individual  traits  of  attention 
or  memory  or  thought  or  will  which  nature  gave  to  a  man 
from  his  birth  are  more  fundamental  than  the  material 
which  he  has  gathered  during  his  development.  They  are 
the  gifts  which  he  has  received  from  his  ancestors,  and 
they  decide  more  than  anything  else  success  and  failure. 
Only  in  a  limited  way  can  they  be  molded  by  training. 
In  practical  life  we  classify  these  inherited  dispositions 
mostly  with  reference  to  three  traits,  namely,  intelli- 
gence, temperament,  and  character.  As  an  appendix  we 
ask  also  for  special  talents.  But  the  emphasis  on  these 
four  aspects  is  not  more  justified  than  an  external  classi- 


228  Business  Psychology 

fication  of  men's  appearance  with  regard  to  the  color  of 
their  hair  or  the  color  of  their  eyes  or  their  height  or 
their  strength.  If  we  know  about  a  person  that  he  is 
short  and  slender  and  has  blond  hair  and  blue  eyes,  we 
know  some  features  which  enable  us  to  pigeonhole  the 
picture,  and  yet  it  is  evident  that  this  is  endlessly  far  from 
a  real  anatomical  description.  Thousands  of  measure- 
ments and  statements  would  be  necessary  to  satisfy  the 
anatomist  with  a  complete  description  of  the  individual 
body.  Not  fewer  are  needed  for  the  description  of  the 
individual  mind. 

Yet  it  is  not  by  chance  that  we  are  accustomed  to  lay 
so  much  emphasis  on  intelligence,  temperament,  and 
character.  Intelligence  refers  to  the  type  of  our  thinking, 
temperament  to  the  type  of  our  feeling,  and  character  to 
the  type  of  our  doing.  In  every  one  of  these  three  realms, 
however,  only  a  very  limited  view  is  taken  as  long  as  we 
confine  ourselves  to  the  intelligence,  the  temperament, 
and  the  character. 

INTELLIGENCB 

Especially  what  we  call  intelligence  by  no  means  covers 
the  processes  which  the  mind  needs  for  a  knowledge  of 
the  world.  To  know  the  world  means  first  of  all  to  per- 
ceive it  and  to  remember  it.  Yet  a  man  with  very  poor 
perception  and  unreliable  memory  can  be  very  intelligent, 
and  another  with  excellent  perception  and  splendid  mem- 
ory can  easily  be  very  unintelligent.  His  memory  may 
sometimes  cover  up  the  defects  of  his  intelligence,  just  as 
strong  intelligence  may  make  the  deficiency  of  memory 
unnoticeable,  but  memory  and  intelligence  remain  two 
different  functions.  Intelligence  is  the  ability  to  use 
one's  mental  resources  in  the  understanding  of  a  situa- 
tion.   A  man  with  very  limited  education  and  accordingly 


Mental  Traits  229 

with  very  poor  resources  maj^  yet  make  very  excellent 
use  of  them,  and  another  who  has  learned  plenty  of  detail 
may  be  very  unskillful  in  employing  it  for  the  interpre- 
tation of  the  situations  he  faces.  But  surely  this  ability 
to  think  intelligently  is  of  such  fundamental  importance 
for  practical  life  that  it  is  not  surprising  if  it  is  picked 
out  in  daily  routine  as  the  most  essential  representative 
of  the  various  functions  which  enter  into  our  knowing 
process. 

TEMPERAMENT 

In  the  sphere  of  our  subjective  attitudes  again  we 
confine  ourselves  mostly  to  the  narrow  circle  which  is 
covered  by  the  term  *  *  temperament. ' '  It  singles  out  the 
inborn  tendency  to  respond  with  emotions.  We  usually 
discriminate  four  types  of  temperament  with  reference  to 
the  rhythm  and  to  the  strength  of  the  emotions.  The  four 
classes  consist  of  those  who  have  slow  but  strong  emo- 
tions, then  slow  but  superficial  emotions,  then  quick  but 
strong  emotions,  and  finally  quick  and  superficial  emo- 
tions. The  sanguine  and  the  phlegmatic  temperament, 
for  instance,  agree  in  the  superficiality  of  their  emotions ; 
only  the  phlegmatic  person  goes  slowly  into  the  new  emo- 
tional attitude,  the  sanguine  quickly.  The  superficiality 
of  their  emotions  in  both  cases  favors  a  certain  optimistic 
mood. 

But  this  merely  formal  aspect  of  the  readiness  to  de- 
velop emotions  in  no  way  characterizes  the  possible  man- 
ifoldness  of  emotional  behavior,  and  it  neglects  entirely 
all  the  other  aspects  of  subjective  reaction.  We  noted 
especially  the  function  of  attention,  in  which  the  personal 
interest  expresses  itself.  Certainly  the  individual  differ- 
ences of  attention  are  in  no  way  less  characteristic  than 
those  of  the  emotions.    The  extreme  importance  of  the 

16 


230  Business  Psychology 

different  types  of  attention  is  far  too  much  underesti- 
mated in  routine  life.  They  are  neglected  because  they 
cannot  be  so  easily  discovered  from  surface  impressions 
as  the  differences  of  emotions.  But  their  influences  on 
practical  life-work  and  their  importance  for  success  and 
failure  are  certainly  not  less  strong ;  and  the  exact  meas- 
urement can  easily  determine  them. 

OHABAOTEB 

Finally  it  cannot  be  overlooked  that  we  do  not  do  jus- 
tice to  the  various  functions  of  personal  activity  if  we 
characterize  them  simply  under  the  formula  of  strong 
or  weak  character.  The  character  differences  refer  to 
the  energy  with  which  the  mind  sticks  to  its  motives.  A 
strong  character  is  one  in  which  the  idea  of  a  goal,  the 
idea  of  the  end  of  an  action,  has  such  strong  determining 
tendency  that  every  idea  which  would  lead  to  opposite 
behavior  is  inhibited  and  suppressed  and  remains  inef- 
fective. The  strong  character  overcomes  a  temptation 
and  remains  loyal  to  the  ideal.  The  weak  character  is  one 
in  which  any  intruding  idea  may  become  stronger  than 
the  plan  of  action. 

All  this  does  not,  however,  tell  us  anything  concerning 
the  individual  differences  of  the  automatic  responses,  of 
the  instinctive  impulses,  of  the  quickness  and  slowness 
of  reaction,  of  the  ability  to  combine  actions  in  new  units, 
of  the  tendency  to  fatigue  in  action,  of  the  ability  to  learn 
through  training,  and  many  similar  features  from  the 
sphere  of  man's  behavior.  A  truly  psychological  analy- 
sis will  give  attention  to  all  these  mental  processes  alike 
and  if  the  psychologist  makes  of  a  personality  what  we 
nowadays  call  a  **psychogram,"  he  gathers  as  full  data 
as  possible   concerning   the   individual's   abilities   and 


Mental  Traits  231 

trends  for  every  one  of  those  various  functions  in  the 
sphere  of  knowing,  feeling,  and  doing. 

Inclusiveness   of   Individual   Psyoholoqicai, 
Examinations 

The  boy  or  girl  who  wants  to  turn  into  business  life 
will  hardly  require  an  examination  of  all  possible  func- 
tions of  the  mind.  If  anyone  wants  to  enter  banking  or 
salesmanship,  factory  work  or  mining,  it  is  not  necessary 
that  his  tone  perceptions,  his  ability  to  distinguish  musi- 
cal intervals,  his  memory  for  melodies,  and  his  voice  be 
examined,  as  would  be  necessary  for  the  future  opera 
singer.  But  whatever  the  special  commercial  or  indus- 
trial vocation  may  be,  we  must  not  believe  that  mere 
knowledge,  or  mere  interests,  or  mere  activities  are  suf- 
ficient. Every  vocation  demands  mental  functions  of  all 
three  classes.  No  one  can  fill  a  place  in  life  who  is  not 
efficient  in  his  knowing,  feeling,  and  doing.  It  is  the  co- 
operation of  these  three  groups  of  mental  functions  which 
characterizes  every  possible  occupation  and  vocation  in 
life.  This  is  far  too  easily  overlooked  and  the  circle  of 
mental  functions  which  must  be  considered  is  accordingly 
often  underrated. 

The  Three  Basic  Factobs  in  Any  Caixinq 

A  certain  knowledge  of  facts  is  indeed  the  necessary 
prerequisite  for  every  vocational  achievement.  It  makes 
no  difference  whether  we  watch  the  engineer  who  builds 
a  bridge  or  the  cook  who  prepares  an  omelet,  the  farmer 
who  plants  his  squashes  in  the  field  or  the  traveling  sales- 
man who  sells  shoes  to  his  customers.  Each  of  them 
needs  for  successful  work  a  certain  acquaintance  with  a 
group  of  facts,  that  is,  some  theoretical  learning.  It  is 
indeed  theoretical  knowledge  to  know  how  an  omelet  is 


232  Business  Psychology 

to  be  mixed,  and  when  is  the  fitting  time  to  plant  the  field, 
and  what  varieties  of  shoes  are  in  the  market,  and  what 
the  properties  of  a  steel  bridge  are. 

Yet  it  is  evident  that  there  is  no  calling,  not  even  the 
most  scholarly,  which  is  dependent  upon  knowledge  alone. 
Though  you  know  the  cookbook  by  heart,  you  may  be  a 
poor  cook.  You  must  have  learned  to  do  things.  Others 
may  have  showed  them  to  you ;  then  you  have  learned  by 
imitation.  Or  you  tried  by  yourself  and  slowly  learned 
by  experience.  But  in  any  case  you  must  have  mastered 
the  technique  and  must  have  learned  to  turn  the  omelet  in 
the  pan. 

The  engineer's  art  of  the  bridge-builder  again  certainly 
includes  far  more  than  scientific  knowledge,  even  if  we 
expand  the  knowledge  to  cover  the  whole  ground  of  ap- 
plied science.  This  knowledge  of  practical  engineering  as 
mere  knowledge  is  distinctly  different  from  the  real 
training.  The  bridge-builder  must  have  learned  how  to 
use  his  knowledge  for  his  practical  task,  and  the  farmer 
must  know  how  to  scatter  and  to  cover  his  seed.  The 
traveling  salesman  has  as  his  material  for  practical  ac- 
tivity not  things  but  men.  He  must  persuade  them;  he 
must  argue  with  them;  he  must  offer  his  wares  to  them 
in  the  most  attractive  manner  and  suggest  to  their  minds 
the  resolution  to  buy.  Again  this  is  an  ability,  a  practical 
achievement,  which  lies  in  an  entirely  different  direction 
from  the  mere  knowledge.  And  many  a  man  who  knows 
much  may  yet  be  unsuccessful  in  the  mastery  of  his  prac- 
tical performance. 

Every  occupation,  humble  or  proud,  thus  demands  the 
knowledge  of  certain  facts  and  the  ability  to  perform  cer- 
tain actions.  Yet  the  most  important  factor  is  still  left 
out,  the  energy  which  puts  the  whole  machine  in  motion. 
We  may  know  all  the  facts  which  are  of  importance  for 


Mental  Traits  233 

the  case ;  we  may  be  splendidly  trained  to  master  the  sit- 
uation ;  and  yet  we  may  have  no  reason  to  step  in  and  no 
interest  in  taking  any  part.  The  third  element  must 
enter.  We  must  be  aware  of  a  demand  which  is  to  be 
satisfied.  If  there  were  no  market  for  the  farmer's 
squashes,  he  would  have  no  interest  in  applying  his  knowl- 
edge and  his  skill.  If  the  economic  conditions  of  the  coun- 
try did  not  demand  a  bridge  over  the  river,  the  engineer 
would  not  think  of  entering  upon  his  bridge-building 
work,  even  though  he  had  all  the  data  in  his  mind  and  all 
the  skill  in  his  control. 

We  have,  accordingly,  three  fundamental  spheres  in 
every  calling.  There  must  be  a  need  to  be  fulfilled.  This 
fulfillment  must  refer  to  facts  which  must  be  known  and 
understood.  Hence  we  need  (1)  a  feeling  consciousness 
of  demands,  (2)  an  ability  for  performance,  and  (3)  a 
knowledge  of  facts.  Of  course  a  thousand  conditions 
must  influence  the  mutual  relation  of  these  three  mental 
functions.  Moreover  each  of  these  fundamental  features 
may  in  itself  present  great  variety.  For  instance  the 
feeling  demand  may  be  a  selfish  one  and  at  the  same  time 
an  ideal  one.  The  bridge-builder  may  do  his  work  be- 
cause he  is  interested  in  the  mechanical  problem  and  also 
because  he  is  interested  in  the  economic  condition  of  the 
country  which  demands  the  bridging  of  the  river  at  that 
point ;  and  yet  he  may  be  no  less  interested  in  his  personal 
fame  and  finally  in  his  personal  fee.  His  feelings  are 
thus  very  complex.  But  surely  some  feeling  element  and 
some  knowing  element  and  some  doing  element  must  be 
combined  in  every  bread-earning  occupation. 

Psychological  Tests  in  all  Three  Directions 

To  determine  the  fitness  of  an  individual  for  successful 
activity  in  any  commercial  or  industrial  sphere  of  life 
involves  therefore  a  careful  observation  of  his  mental 


234  Business  Psychology 

traits  in  all  three  large  fields.  Practically  we  may  con- 
centrate our  interest  on  some  special  function  in  one  of 
the  three  spheres  because  it  may  be  especially  significant 
for  the  vocation  or  especially  difiicult  to  attain,  but  this 
always  means  a  certain  neglect  and  one-sidedness  which 
may  be  dangerous.  We  may  invent  skillful  tests  to  ex- 
amine the  ability  of  a  chauffeur  to  drive  a  car  under  most 
difficult  circumstances,  but  while  this  may  appear  suffi- 
cient for  our  immediate  purpose,  we  may  have  reason  to 
regret  not  having  examined,  for  instance,  his  emotional 
sphere,  as,  in  spite  of  his  technical  skill,  his  emotional 
recklessness  or  his  carelessness  or  his  desire  for  drink 
may  bring  us  into  a  greater  danger  than  a  lower  degree 
of  efficiency  in  driving.  If  we  could  make  an  ideal  study 
of  the  mind  of  a  candidate,  whether  an  office  boy  or  presi- 
dent of  the  company,  an  unskilled  workingman  or  a  chief 
engineer,  we  ought  always  to  know  the  exact  conditions  of 
his  thinking,  feeling,  and  doing  in  all  the  manifestations 
of  perception,  memory,  imagination,  judgment,  attention, 
feeling  and  emotion,  impulse,  instinct,  and  will. 

TEST  QUESTIONS 

1.  Are  many  of  the  popular  classifications  of  mental  types 
scientific!    Why! 

2.  Into  how  many  classes  does  Mr.  Lindgren  divide  buyers  1 

3.  What  is  meant  by  Mr.  Lindgren 's  list's  being  based  upon 
accidental  characteristics  1 

4.  What  is  meant  by  classifying  people  according  to  con- 
trasting tendencies?    What  is  Schneider's  list? 

5.  What  influence  has  experience  upon  our  life? 

6.  What  is  meant  by  inherited  dispositions  of  intelligence, 
temperament,  character,  and  special  talents  ? 

7.  Describe  in  an  analytical  way  how  a  strong  character  is  dis- 
tinguished from  a  weak  character. 

8.  What  three  factors  are  required  for  vocational  fitness  and 
for  success  in  every  calling  t 


CHAPTER  XVn 
selection  of  fit  individnaiis 

Kinds  of  Examinations 

If  every  vocation  makes  special  demands  on  the  dis- 
positions, abilities,  and  possessions  of  the  mind,  the  task 
must  be  to  select  the  persons  who  bring  the  right  mental 
equipment  to  the  work  to  be  done.  What  methods  can 
help  us  in  this  psychological  examination?  Is  it  neces- 
sary to  examine  in  every  case  the  whole  mental  household 
of  the  applicant?  Is  it  indispensable  to  study  every  sin- 
gle function  of  his  mind  before  we  say  that  a  man  ought 
to  be  appointed  or  not?  A  certain  selection  of  the  most 
important  mental  traits  to  be  studied  suggests  itself 
anyhow. 

If  a  physician  has  to  examine  all  the  details  of  an  or- 
ganism in  order  to  discover  some  hidden  trouble,  he  needs 
at  least  three  hours '  direct  study  of  the  case  and  several 
days  are  still  required  for  the  various  chemical  observa- 
tions. He  uses  his  Roentgen  rays  and  electrocardio- 
grams, the  stomach  pump  and  what-not.  But  if  the 
physician  wants  only  to  find  out  whether  a  man  ought  to 
be  accepted  for  life  insurance,  he  omits  nine-tenths  of 
those  subtler  tests  and  is  satisfied  with  a  few  chief  data. 
And  if  a  patient  comes  to  the  doctor  with  a  complaint 
about  a  sprained  foot,  he  will  not  even  go  through  the 
examination  of  heart  and  lungs  which  are  needed  for  the 
life  insurance.  Yet  the  good  physician  knows  how  much 
the  physiological  functions  are  connected.    If  a  man  com- 

235 


236  Business  Psychology 

plains  of  headache,  he  will  not  be  satisfied  with  prescrib- 
ing some  aspirin,  but  he  will  indeed  examine  his  stomach 
and  his  kidneys  and  his  nervous  system  and  his  blood 
pressure  and  so  on  to  discover  the  deeper  sources,  be- 
cause the  functions  of  the  body  are  thoroughly  inter- 
related. 

In  the  mental  sphere  the  situation  is  similar.  Here  too 
it  would  be  absurd  to  examine  the  whole  mind  with  all 
the  means  of  science  if  the  purpose  is  a  limited  one  and 
if  the  study  of  certain  particular  mental  features  is  evi- 
dently suflScient.  But  again  it  needs  very  careful  con- 
sideration of  how  far  the  mental  abilities  are  related  and 
how  far  deficiency  in  one  may  bring  evil  consequences  in 
an  apparently  quite  different  field  of  action.  But  before 
we  consider  this  fuller  examination  of  the  special  mental 
features,  we  may  ask  whether  certain  short  cuts  are  not 
at  our  disposal,  methods  by  which  we  may  gain  all  the 
needed  information  without  taking  the  trouble  of  exam- 
ining all  the  special  facts  in  the  case. 

Gboup  Psychology 

Such  a  short  cut  is  offered  by  that  branch  of  psychology 
which  may  be  called  ''group  psychology.*'  Its  aim  is  to 
find  tiiose  mental  features  which  are  characteristic  of 
definite  groups  of  men.  Group  psychology  must  not  be 
confused  with  social  psychology,  another  important 
branch  of  psychological  interest.  Social  psychology  em- 
braces all  those  mental  facts  which  are  dependent  upon 
the  co-operation  of  several  individuals.  For  instance, 
the  mental  processes  involved  in  the  use  of  language,  or 
the  acts  of  imitation  or  suggestion,  of  subordination  and 
self-assertion,  belong  to  social  psychology.  In  group 
psychology,  on  the  other  hand,  the  question  is  not  how  a 
group  of  men  ^rork  together  and  how  they  influence  one 


Selection  of  Individuals  237 

another,  but  what  mental  characteristics  are  common  to 
them  as  a  class  wherever  they  may  be  found. 

The  members  of  such  a  group  may  not  be  in  contact 
with  one  another  at  all.  We  may  ask  what  are  the  mental 
traits  of  the  fishermen.  We  treat  the  fishermen  of  the 
whole  world  then  as  one  group,  and  it  is  evident  that  the 
members  of  this  group  are  not  at  all  a  social  community. 
They  do  not  know  one  another  and  do  not  influence  one 
another,  but  they  all  may  have  certain  common  char- 
acteristics resulting  from  their  perilous  occupation. 
Now  if  we  develop  such  a  group  psychology,  it  can  indeed 
help  us  to  simplify  some  problems  of  vocational  selection. 
If  a  person  clearly  belongs  to  a  definite  group  and  we 
know  that  the  members  of  this  group  have  certain  defi- 
nite mental  traits,  we  can  take  it  for  granted  that  this 
individual  shows  these  traits,  and  it  becomes  unnecessary 
to  examine  this  particular  person.  We  silently  project 
all  the  characteristic  qualities  and  traits  of  the  whole 
group  into  the  individual  before  us. 

The  limitations  of  such  a  short-cut  method  cannot  be 
overlooked.  We  have  no  right  whatever  to  claim  that 
the  traits  of  the  group  can  all  really  be  found  in  every 
single  individual  of  the  group.  Group  psychology  is 
based  on  statistics.  We  can  only  find  averages;  that  is, 
we  may  find  that  of  a  thousand  fishermen  a  majority  has 
certain  mental  traits  very  strongly  developed  and  a  large 
number  of  the  minority  has  at  least  certain  traces  of 
those  traits,  and  only  a  small  number  of  all  examined 
may  show  complete  absence  of  those  mental  dispositions. 
We  are  then  perfectly  justified  in  saying  that  the  group 
of  fishermen  as  such  can  be  characterized  by  the  presence 
of  those  mental  features.  But  if  we  meet  one  fisherman 
at  the  shore  we  have,  of  course,  no  proof  at  all  that  he 
may  not  be  just  one  of  the  few  who  form  the  exception  or 


238  Business  Psychology 

one  of  that  relatively  large  group  in  which  those  traits 
are  only  faintly  developed.  It  would  be  arbitrary  to  take 
it  for  granted  that  he  belongs  to  the  majority.  If  we  want 
to  make  sure  whether  he  is  a  member  of  the  majority 
or  not,  we  would  after  all  have  to  examine  him  individ- 
ually and  that  means  we  would  have  to  give  up  the  short 
cut  of  our  group  psychology. 

It  is  easy  to  recognize  that  the  group  of  miners  and 
the  group  of  weavers  and  the  group  of  oflSce  clerks  each 
has  its  particular  acquired  mental  traits  different  from 
the  traits  of  the  others  and  from  those  of  ministers  or  of 
army  officers.  But  it  would  not  be  difficult  to  find  one  or 
another  office  clerk  who  shares  the  predominant  features 
of  the  mill-worker  and  an  individual  weaver  whose  men- 
tal traits  are  much  more  those  of  the  miner.  In  short 
any  reliance  on  the  results  of  group  psychology  can  lead 
us  only  to  a  certain  probability  of  correctness.  We  are 
never  certain  that  our  judgment  of  an  individual  and  ac- 
cordingly our  selection  of  him  for  a  particular  place,  is 
correct. 

PRACTICAL  APPLICATION  OF  GROUP  PSYCHOLOGY 

As  far  as  appointments  are  concerned,  one  occasion  on 
which  group  psychology  is  very  important  is  when  large 
numbers  are  to  be  selected  and  individual  examination  is 
out  of  the  question.  When  several  hundred  men  are  to  be 
employed  for  work  which  needs  particularly  certain  men- 
tal traits  and  it  is  known  from  group  psychology  that  just 
these  traits  prevail  in  an  especial  group,  for  instance, 
among  the  Italians  or  the  Russians  or  the  Irish,  it  seems 
safe  to  prefer  men  of  that  stock.  Among  those  hundreds 
will  be  again  quite  a  number  who  are  exceptions  to  the 
rule  and  who  differ  widely  from  the  average,  who  may 
even  lack  the  desirable  ability  entirely.    But  if  the  state- 


Selection  of  Individuals  239 

ment  of  group  psychology  was  true,  it  may  be  expected 
that  a  much  larger  number  of  men  with  the  desired  trait 
^vill  be  among  the  hundreds  of  this  group  than  of  any 
other. 

Surely  much  popular  group  psychology  is  nothing  but 
prejudice  based  on  chance  experiences  which  are  unduly 
generalized.  Foremen  in  factories  are  readily  inclined 
to  claim  that  this  or  that  kind  of  work  demands  men  of 
this  or  that  nationality  because  they  are  best  fitted  for  it. 
If  such  claims  are  examined  in  cities  with  many  racial 
elements,  it  can  easily  be  discovered  that  these  ideas  dif- 
fer from  place  to  place  and  that  for  the  same  work  in  one 
factory  it  is  declared  that  the  Poles  are  best  fitted,  in  an- 
other the  Irish,  and  in  a  third  the  Swedes  are  preferred. 
A  really  scientific  group  psychology  is  only  at  its 
beginning. 

AGE   DIFFERENCES 

The  group  differences  which  scientists  have  traced 
most  carefully  are  those  of  age  and  sex.  All  children 
of  a  certain  age  form  in  this  sense  a  group  of  their  own. 
They  have  certain  definite  mental  traits  as  compared  with 
an  adult.  In  the  business  world  small  children  do  not 
come  in  question,  and  we  may  even  leave  out  of  consid- 
eration the  not  exceptional  case  of  child  labor.  But  it 
would  be  misleading  to  expect  the  boy  or  girl  of  fourteen 
to  possess  all  the  mental  traits  of  the  adult.  Many  func- 
tions need  still  further  development.  Attention,  mem- 
ory, and  apperception  have  not  reached  that  degree  of 
efiiciency  which  they  will  reach  six  years  later,  not  only 
through  further  training  but  by  the  natural  growth  of 
the  mind  brain-system.  It  is  a  development  with  marked 
rhythms  and  with  changes  of  characteristic,  definite 
periods,  changes  which  even  involve  a  decrease  in  the  ac- 


240  Business  Psychology 

tivity  of  certain  mental  functions  while  most  others  in- 
crease. The  predominant  feature  of  this  period  is  the 
rich  development  of  high-pitched  feelings  and  sentiments, 
often  with  quick  changes  and  deep  influences  on  the  whole 
intellectual  and  active  life. 

On  the  other  hand  the  group  psychologist  knows  the 
characteristic  decrease  of  mental  abilities  in  old  age.  The 
associative  mechanism  weakens,  the  spontaneity  of  the 
mind  decreases,  the  senses  suffer,  the  memory  for  recent 
impressions  becomes  defective.  The  question  of  appoint- 
ing elderly  persons  to  positions  which  demand  a  full- 
fledged  mental  life  cannot  remain  untouched  by  such 
average  observations.  Yet  just  in  this  respect  the  wide 
deviations  from  the  average  are  very  familiar.  It  is  well 
known  how  eager  the  mind  of  many  an  octogenarian  still 
is.  In  any  case  the  group  psychologist  can  hardly  doubt 
that  the  present-day  tendency  to  prefer  the  man  of  about 
thirty  in  the  important  positions  of  commerce  and  in- 
dustry is  hardly  justified  by  a  careful  observation  of 
mental  functions.  The  advantages  of  development  in  the 
mind  of  forty-five  to  sixty  are  too  much  neglected  com- 
pared with  the  more  superficial  merits  of  the  mind  of 
thirty  to  forty. 

SEX   DIFFERENCES 

The  economic  life  of  the  nation  is  still  more  influenced 
by  group  psychology  with  reference  to  the  group  of 
women  as  compared  with  the  group  of  men.  We  find  on 
the  one  side  the  prejudice  that  the  difference  is  extreme 
and  that  women  are  unfit  for  important  business  posi- 
tions ;  on  the  other  side  the  equally  superficial  idea  that 
there  exists  no  difference  between  the  mind  of  men  and 
women  and  that  women  can  therefore  fill  any  place.  The 
scientific  group  psychologist  must  take  a  middle  stand. 


Selection  of  Individuals  241 

Careful  experiments  have  thrown  light  on  the  differences 
of  memory,  attention,  feeling,  and  other  mental  func- 
tions in  boys  and  girls  and  in  mature  men  and  women. 
Such  experimental  results  can  easily  be  supplemented  by 
social  statistical  material,  by  historical  reports,  and  by 
the  account  of  male  and  female  achievements  in  civiliza- 
tion. The  psychologist  certainly  cannot  point  to  any  one 
mental  function  which  is  present  in  all  men  and  absent  in 
all  women,  or  vice  versa.  It  cannot  even  be  said  that 
either  sex  possesses  a  characteristic  trait  in  which  some 
members  of  the  other  sex  may  not  excel  too.  Yet  such 
studies  leave  no  doubt  that  significant  differences  exist. 
It  would  be  superficial  to  claim  that  the  mind  of  man 
or  of  woman  is  superior,  but  each  has  its  peculiar  points 
of  strength  and  weakness. 

The  survey  of  a  large  field  shows  first  of  all  that  men 
vary  more  widely.  Women  are  nearer  to  the  average 
type.  The  extreme  variations  above  and  below  the  aver- 
age occur  more  frequently  with  men.  They  show  the 
greatest  development  of  intellectual,  emotional,  and  voli- 
tional powers  in  the  case  of  scientific  or  artistic  or  political 
or  religious  genius,  and  the  greatest  criminal  deprav- 
ity. The  average  female  mind  is  patient,  loyal,  reliable, 
economic,  skillful,  full  of  sympathy,  and  full  of  imagina- 
tion ;  on  the  other  hand  it  is  capricious,  over-suggestible, 
often  inclined  to  exaggeration,  disinclined  to  abstract 
thought,  unfit  for  mathematical  reasoning,  impulsive, 
over-emotional.  The  good  and  bad  features  alike  can  be 
understood  as  the  results  of  a  greater  emotional  tempera- 
ment in  women  than  in  men,  and  secondarily  as  the  re- 
sults of  greater  activity. 

But  the  chief  point  is  that  in  man  the  various  contents 
of  consciousness  remain  separate,  while  in  the  mind  of 
woman  they  fuse.    Her  Ufe,  therefore,  has  more  inner 


242  Business  Psychology 

unity,  and  she  shows  more  readiness  to  devote  all  mental 
energies  to  one  idea.  But  for  the  same  reason  she  must 
be  influenced  by  prejudices,  must  show  a  lack  of  logical 
discrimination,  must  be  under  the  control  of  the  present 
impressions  and  too  little  directed  by  the  arguments 
which  reason  and  memory  supply.  The  practical  outcome 
is  surely  that  many  commercial  or  industrial  positions, 
even  if  the  question  of  physical  strength  is  entirely  set 
aside,  are  hardly  the  right  ones  for  women,  while  in  many 
others  they  are  decidedly  to  be  preferred,  again  not  con- 
sidering the  fact  that  for  social  reasons  their  working 
energy  is  less  expensive. 

Wherever  a  large  number  of  women  are  working  to- 
gether greater  emotional  excitability  must  be  taken  for 
granted,  even  though  there  may  be  a  number  of  individ- 
ual women  who  have  more  the  balance  of  men,  while  in 
any  group  of  men  we  may  find  some  individuals  with  fe- 
male emotionalism.  It  has  been  found,  for  instance,  that 
in  a  factory  with  thousands  of  women  workers  too  many 
lose  their  heads  in  a  moment  of  danger.  In  case  of  fire 
the  probability  would  therefore  be  that  they  would  not 
subordinate  themselves  to  the  rules  which  they  learned  in 
the  fire-drill  and  that  the  sight  of  flames  and  smoke  would 
paralyze  their  rational  action.  Hence  it  has  been  found 
more  effective  to  have  such  a  fire-drill  only  for  the  men 
but  in  the  halls  to  have  a  few  strong  men  at  work  whose 
chief  function  in  a  moment  of  danger  is  to  force  the 
women  in  the  right  direction  toward  the  exit  and  to  direct 
their  hysterical  excitement  toward  a  place  of  safety.  Of 
course  this  is  one  of  the  cases  where  a  true  group-psy- 
chological observation  is  used  in  a  rather  one-sided  way. 
One  psychological  danger  is  avoided,  but  it  may  be  that 
this  method  will  introduce  psychological  dangers  of  other 
kinds. 


Selection  of  Individuals  243 

This  emotionalism  of  women  not  seldom  makes  them 
the  better  candidates  for  a  place.  It  is  not  by  chance  that 
most  men  in  responsible  positions  prefer  women  to  men 
as  confidential  secretaries.  Woman's  loyalty  and  devo- 
tion leads  her  to  sink  her  own  personality  in  the  work  of 
her  employer  more  than  does  a  man,  who  is  always  in- 
clined to  keep  his  independent  personal  interests  in  the 
background  of  his  mind.  She  is  accordingly  more  dis- 
creet and  it  is  an  entirely  misleading  prejudice  of  popular 
group  psychology  if  the  contrary  is  claimed  and  if  it  is 
insisted  that  women  are  less  able  to  be  reticent  about  con- 
fidential affairs. 

COERELATION   PSYCHOLOGY 

Group  psychology,  however,  is  only  one  method  by 
which  the  selection  of  the  mentally  fit  individuals  can  be 
simplified.  It  remains  a  rather  unreliable  method,  as  it 
can  offer  only  probabilities  and  it  is  at  present  entirely 
undeveloped;  for  instance  the  group  psychology  of  the 
different  races  has  not  gained  really  scientific  character. 

We  have  another  method  which  seems  to  lead  to  the 
same  end  and  which  seems  to  open  a  much  wider  field  in 
the  science,  which  is  technically  called  ''correlation  psy- 
chology. ' '  The  fundamental  idea  of  this  correlation  psy- 
chology is  that  special  mental  functions  regularly  occur 
together  with  certain  other  physical  or  mental  traits. 
The  principal  advantage  of  such  observations  is  clearly 
that  the  presence  of  one  feature  would  be  a  signal  which 
allows  us  to  expect  the  presence  of  another  trait.  If  for 
instance  we  could  find  that  the  ability  for  arithmetical 
calculation  goes  together  with  talent  for  business  admin- 
istration, then  it  would  be  easy  to  find  the  men  who  are 
fit  to  guide  a  business.  We  should  only  have  to  test  all 
applicants  for  the  position  by  giving  them  some  large 


244  Business  Psychology 

figures  to  multiply  in  the  head.  Those  who  did  it  best 
would  be  our  ideal  candidates  for  the  place  in  the  office. 

But  does  such  a  correlation  between  the  multiplying  of 
figures  and  the  conducting  of  business  exist  T  To  find  out, 
the  student  of  correlation  psychology  might  select  ten 
men  who  are  the  strongest  business  administrators  he 
knows,  and  ten  men  who  have  medium  capacity  for  it,  and 
ten  men  who,  however  intelligent  in  other  respects,  have 
proved  to  be  poor  business  organizers.  Take  the  case 
that  he  has  found  his  thirty  men  of  the  three  types.  His 
next  step  would  be  to  give  to  everyone  a  set  of  multipli- 
cation tasks  and  to  make  statistics  as  to  how  many  sec- 
onds are  required  to  solve  the  problems  and  how  many 
mistakes  are  made.  If  he  finds  that  the  ten  excellent  busi- 
ness men  are  also  the  ten  best  in  the  calculation  and  the 
ten  poorest  business  men  are  the  ten  worst  in  the  calcu- 
lation, he  can  take  it  for  granted  that  such  a  correlation 
really  exists. 

If  he  were  to  find,  on  the  contrary,  that  the  ten  strong 
business  heads  are  on  the  whole  weak  calculators  and 
that  the  ten  poor  organizers  are  strong  calculators,  he 
would  call  it  a  case  of  negative  correlation;  that  is,  the 
absence  of  talent  for  quick  multiplication  would  indicate 
that  there  is  talent  for  business,  while  the  ability  to  mul- 
tiply rapidly  would  speak  against  special  ability  for 
business  administration. 

In  both  cases,  in  that  of  positive  and  that  of  negative 
correlation,  it  would  be  relatively  simple  to  discover  the 
right  man  by  a  quick  test.  The  fact  is,  however,  that 
such  an  investigation  would  quickly  lead  to  a  very  differ- 
ent result,  namely,  it  would  show  that  no  strong  corre- 
lation either  positive  or  negative  exists.  Among  those 
excellent  business  men  there  would  be  some  who  calculate 
well  and  some  who  calculate  badly,  and  among  the  poor 


Selection  of  Individuals  245 

business  organizers  some  good  and  also  some  poor  calcu- 
lators would  be  found.  Thus  the  idea  of  using  that  as  a 
simple  test  for  selecting  the  men  would  hardly  be 
promising. 

Yet  if  we  made  this  inquiry,  we  should  find  that  there  is 
after  all  a  certain  difference  between  the  good  and  the 
bad  business  man  in  the  ability  to  calculate.  The  average 
of  the  ten  strong  men  of  affairs  is  somewhat  superior  to 
the  average  of  the  ineffective  business  men.  But  is  that 
surprising?  Does  that  indicate  any  special  correlation 
between  two  independent  mental  functions!  Certainly 
not.  It  only  shows  that  those  two  functions  have  certain 
common  elements,  that  a  certain  degree  of  intelligence  is 
needed  for  both,  and  that  while  they  remain  distinct  func- 
tions which  are  in  themselves  not  bound  up  with  each 
other,  yet  the  common  need  of  mental  eagerness,  mental 
quickness,  mental  adaptability,  for  both  functions  brings 
them  somewhat  into  contact.  The  more  intelligent  per- 
son will  have  better  chances  in  both  directions. 

This  is  exactly  the  trend  which  the  study  of  correlation 
psychology  has  taken  throughout.  Many  mental  traits 
show  such  positive  correlation  that  excellence  in  the  one 
frequently  implies  excellence  in  the  other.  And  then 
we  have  indeed  the  right  to  expect  the  existence  of  the 
one  where  we  can  discover  the  other.  But  in  all  these 
cases  we  have  simply  the  effects  of  some  common  cause 
or  directly  some  common  element  in  the  two  functions. 

BCIBNTrFIO  USE  OF  COREELATIONS 

No  two  mental  processes  which  have  neither  common 
causes  nor  common  elements  are  ever  correlated  with 
each  other,  either  positively  or  negatively.  They  are  sim- 
ply independent  of  one  another.     Mathematical  talent 

and  musical  talent  seem  to  be  slightly  correlated.    But 
17 


246  Business  Psychology 

acuity  of  vision  and  musical  talent  or  sensitiveness  to 
odors  and  musical  talent  have  nothing  whatever  to  do 
with  each  other.  Among  musical  persons  are  just  as 
many  who  have  strong  acuity  of  vision  as  there  are  who 
are  deficient. 

In  our  practical  life  we  are  always  inclined  to  believe 
in  the  existence  of  such  interrelations.  This  goes  into  the 
midst  of  trivial  functions.  It  is  claimed  that  among 
smokers  the  friends  of  cigars  and  the  friends  of  cigarettes 
present  two  different  types  of  mind.  The  love  for  the 
cigar  is  correlated  with  earnestness,  pedantry,  and  thor- 
oughness, the  love  for  the  cigarette  with  superficiality, 
nervousness,  and  artistic  temperament.  The  inclination 
toward  sweet  tastes  and  toward  piquant  dishes  is  thought 
to  be  correlated  with  different  temperamental  and  voli- 
tional attitudes. 

Laboratory  psychologists  have  undertaken  such  inves- 
tigations with  exact  methods.  For  instance  all  the  stu- 
dents of  a  university  were  examined  as  to  their  ability 
to  discriminate  the  pitch  of  tone,  the  heaviness  of  weights, 
the  length  of  lines,  and  as  to  their  sensitiveness  to  pain, 
their  quickness  of  reaction,  their  rapidity  of  association, 
their  acoustical  memory,  their  discrimination  of  time 
periods,  their  imagery;  all  these  functions  were  further 
studied  with  reference  to  their  intelligence  as  expressed 
in  the  results  of  their  university  examinations.  The  out- 
come was  that  no  definite  correlations  were  found  be- 
tween these  various  elementary  functions  on  the  one  side 
and  the  intellectual  functions  which  the  examination 
demanded  on  the  other  side. 

Any  surprising  connections  between  apparently  inde- 
pendent mental  states  have  so  far  not  been  traced  by 
exact  experiments.  The  hopes  which  correlation  psy- 
diology  suggested  for  the  selecting  of  individuals  with 


Selection  of  Individuals  247 

the  help  of  easily  determinable  traits  have  so  far  not  been 
realized.  The  study  of  correlations  is  very  interesting, 
because  it  allows  theoretical  insight  into  the  far-reaching 
mental  connections.  It  shows  how  far  apparently  differ- 
ent acts  have  some  common  causes  or  some  common  ele- 
ments. But  their  practical  importance  seems  as  yet 
negligible. 

GRAPHOLOGY 

This  statement  will  be  contradicted  first  of  all  by  the 
graphologists.  They  will  say  that  we  can  find  a  definite 
correlation  between  the  details  of  the  handwriting  and 
the  whole  mental  behavior  of  the  individual.  No  doubt 
the  handwriting  must  be  acknowledged  as  a  psychical- 
physiological  function  and  if  it  were  true  that  the  place 
of  the  dot  over  the  i  or  the  steepness  of  the  stroke  or  the 
height  of  the  /  or  the  distance  between  two  letters  or  the 
form  of  the  loop  in  the  g  is  characteristically  correlated 
with  the  good  nature  or  the  health,  the  political  talent  or 
the  scientific  ability,  the  modesty  or  the  immodesty,  the 
honesty  or  the  dishonesty  of  a  writer,  we  should  indeed 
have  a  useful  mental  correlation.  As  we  want  an  honest 
candidate  and  not  a  dishonest  one,  we  should  simply  look 
up  the  particular  features  in  the  handwriting  of  his  letter. 

Such  a  claim,  as  is  well  known,  is  a  very  old  one. 
Graphology  has  interested  the  world  in  earlier  times  even 
more  than  today.  Yet  the  scientific  psychologist  consid- 
ers these  claims  as  wildly  exaggerated.  There  is  no  doubt 
that  the  handwriting  is  expressive  of  the  personality,  as 
the  handwriting  is  a  form  of  movement,  and  every  bodily 
movement  which  is  carried  out  under  the  control  of  the 
mind  must  reflect  the  characteristics  of  the  individuality. 
A  person's  walk  and  a  person's  way  of  speaking  and 
every  other  expressive  movement  is  determined  by  his 


248  Business  Psychology 

mental  states.  It  is  therefore  perfectly  justifiable  to  seek 
different  types  in  the  different  handwritings  and  to  recog- 
nize fundamental  differences.  An  energetic  character 
expresses  itself  in  an  energetic  handwriting;  an  erratic 
personality  can  easily  be  recognized  in  the  irregularity 
of  his  writing  impulses.  A  specially  neat  writing  will  go 
together  with  neat  mental  behavior.  We  even  have  a  right 
to  speak  of  a  certain  artificiality  and  unnaturalness  of 
handwriting  which  may  be  a  symptom  of  similar  mental 
habits. 

In  this  way  many  features  of  the  man  may  be  discovered 
in  a  page  of  his  writing,  and  everybody  can  recognize  in 
a  handwritten  letter  certain  characteristics  of  the  man 
which  would  be  lost  in  a  typewritten  letter.  Yet  this  is 
again  only  a  case  of  the  community  of  elements.  If  an 
energetic  character  writes  an  energetic  handwriting, 
nobody  will  seek  in  it  the  correlation  between  two  inde- 
pendent features,  but  simply  the  similar  consequences  of 
the  same  conditions.  Those  subtler,  apparently  inex- 
plainable  correlations,  on  the  other  hand,  to  which  the 
graphologists  have  so  often  pointed,  seem  hardly  a  safe 
basis  for  judging  a  man  from  the  products  of  his  pen. 

PHBENOLOGY 

While  the  claims  of  the  graphologists  have  become 
rather  modest  in  recent  years,  another  similar  form  of 
correlation  psychology  has  been  brought  forward  with 
many  promises  and  with  the  assurance  that  these  prom- 
ises have  already  been  fulfilled.  The  system  which  Dr. 
Katherine  Blackford  has  made  very  popular  nowadays 
in  the  American  industrial  and  commercial  world,  the 
so-called  Blackford  employment  plan,  belongs  in  every 
respect  to  the  sphere  of  correlation  psychology.  It  is  es- 
sentially based  on  the  conviction  that  certain  mental  traits 


Selection  of  Individuals  249 

are  always  combined  with  certain  characteristics  of  the 
body,  especially  of  the  physiognomy  of  the  face  and  of  the 
hands.  If  a  particular  kind  of  work  needs  much  patience 
and  a  certain  type  of  mouth  or  nose  or  eyes  is  always 
connected  with  mental  patience,  it  is  easy  to  find  the  right 
candidate  for  the  job  by  picking  out  among  the  applicants 
the  man  with  the  appropriate  face. 

This  kind  of  theory  reminds  the  reader  at  first  of  the 
old  phrenological  ideas  which  a  century  ago  stirred  up 
the  popular  world.  At  that  time  it  was  claimed  that  the 
traits  of  the  mind  can  be  discovered  by  the  outer  forma- 
tion of  the  skull.  No  two  skulls  are  entirely  alike.  There 
are  many  details  in  the  contour  of  the  head,  and  if  the 
stronger  development  of  one  part  indicates  sympathy, 
and  another  sexuality,  and  another  sense  for  beauty,  and 
another  honesty,  and  so  on  through  a  long  list  of  mental 
inclinations,  the  phrenologist  who  has  some  training  in 
examining  the  head  by  touch  would  be  the  ideal  adviser 
of  every  employer  of  a  working  force. 

The  misfortune  of  that  phrenological  theory  of  old 
was  that  it  was  founded  on  pure  fancy.  The  fact 
that  the  outside  of  the  skull  is  not  at  all  a  clear  indica- 
tion of  the  surface  of  the  brain  is  only  a  minor  objec- 
tion to  that  fantastic  system.  The  really  fundamental 
objection  is  that  all  those  mental  traits  which  the  phre- 
nologists sought  in  particular  locations  on  the  surface  of 
the  brain  were  soon  recognized  as  very  complex  combi- 
nations of  mental  elements  which  cannot  possibly  be  con- 
nected with  one  definite  area  in  the  brain  and  least  of  all 
on  the  surface  of  the  brain.  A  sense  for  business  or  a 
sense  for  architecture,  a  love  for  one's  country  or  for 
one's  family,  involves  millions  of  mental  processes  and 
these  processes  are  distributed  over  the  whole  brain. 


250  Business  Psychology 

Phreuology  was  therefore  very  soon  discarded  by  every 
serious  thinker  and  it  sunk  to  the  level  of  fakes. 

It  is  a  pity  that  while  it  has  died  out  altogether  in 
Europe,  in  America  many  humbugs,  often  well-mean- 
ing ones,  still  mislead  certain  classes  of  the  public  by 
these  old  phrenological  absurdities.  Even  in  educational 
departments  of  industrial  establishments  such  silly  pic- 
tures of  phrenologically  divided  heads  can  sometimes  be 
seen  in  which  the  surface  of  the  head  is  mapped  out  into 
little  square  areas,  each  of  which  serves  a  particular 
complex  mental  function.  This  survival  of  a  grotesque 
absurdity  is  typical  of  the  hindrances  which  a  sound 
study  of  psychology  still  finds  in  its  way.  Is  the  Black- 
ford employment  plan  on  a  higher  scientific  level  ? 

The  Blackford  Plan 

It  may  certainly  be  acknowledged  that  the  correla- 
tions on  which  the  plan  hangs  are  not  simply  fancies,  but 
are  backed  by  earnest  theories,  and  it  may  be  added  that 
these  theories,  which  are  deduced  from  certain  specula- 
tions of  modern  anthropologists,  are  brilliant  and  inter- 
esting. The  whole  method  starts  from  familiar  popular 
observations.  ''The  high  brows  and  lean  cheeks  of  the 
thinker  and  scholar,  the  high,  large  nose  of  courage  and 
aggressiveness,  the  thick  neck  and  fleshy  lips  of  sensual- 
ity, the  thin  lips  and  cold  eye  of  cruelty,  the  round  face 
and  full  figure  of  good  nature,  the  dark  eyes,  hair,  and 
skin  of  revenge,  the  keen  sharp  face  of  the  scold,  and  the 
broad  flat  face  of  phlegmatism,  are  as  familiar  in  litera- 
ture as  they  are  in  everyday  life."  It  may  be  said  at 
once  that  this  familiarity  in  literature  is  in  itself  no  proof 
of  correctness.  It  would  not  be  difficult  to  show  that  high 
brows  and  lean  cheeks  can  be  discovered  in  faces  of  men 
whom  no  one  would  denounce  as  scholars,  and  that  many 


Selection  of  Individuals  251 

true  thinkers  and  important  scholars  have  neither  the 
lips  nor  the  cheeks  demanded  for  them.  But  such  super- 
ficial observations  would  anyhow  not  give  a  theory  and 
would  surely  never  lead  to  a  point  at  which  definite 
schemes  for  the  selection  of  appHcants  for  positions  could 
be  proposed.  The  theoretical  background  is  gained  by 
the  connection  of  man's  color,  form,  size,  structure,  tex- 
ture, and  so  on  with  the  racial  history. 

We  have  for  instance  the  difference  of  the  blonde  and 
brunette  races.  The  anthropologists  have  discovered 
that  the  pigment  of  the  brunette  was  originally  a  pro- 
tective development  of  the  organisms  exposed  to  strong 
light  in  southern  climates.  The  pigmentation  in  both 
men  and  animals  has  been  evolved  for  the  purpose  of  ex- 
cluding the  short-waved  rays  of  the  light  from  the  tissues 
of  the  body,  as  they  exhaust  and  destroy  living  proto- 
plasm. * '  The  primitive  man  was  brunette  and  blondeness 
has  been  evolved  as  the  result  of  forced  or  voluntary  mi- 
gration to  cold,  dark,  cloudy  northwestern  Europe;  the 
climate  of  this  part  of  Europe  is  rigorous  and  severe." 
Accordingly  blondeness  was  developed  in  a  climatic  en- 
vironment which  permitted  the  survival  only  of  those 
who  were  most  vigorous,  most  intelligent,  most  aggres- 
sive, most  creative,  most  active. 

The  brunette  was  characteristic  of  the  warm,  pleas- 
ant climate  where  the  necessities  are  comparatively 
few,  where  man  needs  less  food,  less  clothing,  less  shel- 
ter, and  where  everything  is  easy  to  obtain  from  the 
abundance  of  animal  and  vegetable  life  around.  The 
outcome  is  that  *'the  normal  blonde  has  positive,  dy- 
namic, driving,  aggressive,  domineering,  impatient, 
active,  quick,  hopeful,  speculative,  changing  and  variety- 
loving  characteristics,  while  the  normal  brunette  has 
negative,  static,  conservative,  imitative,  submissive,  can- 


252  Business  Psychology 

tious,  painstaking,  patient,  plodding,  slow,  deliberate, 
serious,  thoughtful,  specializing  characteristics.  •  •  * 
In  applying  this  law  of  color  to  people  of  the  white  race 
the  method  is  simple.  The  less  the  pigmentation,  in  any 
individual,  the  more  marked  will  be  the  characteristics  of 
the  blonde  in  his  mental  and  psychical  nature.  The  greater 
the  degree  of  pigmentation,  the  more  marked  the  char- 
acteristics of  the  brunette. ' ' 

Similar  interesting  anthropological  arguments  lead  to 
the  discrimination  between  the  characteristics  of  people 
with  large,  high  noses  and  low,  flat  noses.  It  is  quite  cer- 
tain that  only  a  high,  prominent  nose  is  best  fitted  for 
the  colder  climates  where  the  cold  air  of  the  surroundings 
must  be  warmed  in  the  passages  of  the  nose.  On  the 
other  hand  the  northern  air  is  rich  in  oxygen  and  there- 
fore it  is  less  necessary  to  breathe  in  large  quantities  of 
air.  In  the  hot  climates  the  air  is  rarefied  by  heat  and 
contains  less  oxygen.  A  short,  wide  air  passage  such  as 
a  flat  nose  offers  is  therefore  best  fitted  for  the  introduc- 
tion of  suflBcient  oxygen  into  the  lungs.  Moreover  the 
flat  nose,  with  its  short,  wide,  low-bridged  form  and  its 
large  round  nostrils  needs  less  muscular  activity  in 
breathing  and  is  appropriate  for  the  warm  climate  in 
which  all  muscular  and  organic  reactions  are  weaker. 
Again  it  can  be  understood  that  "when  man  migrated 
into  colder  and  harsher  climates,  conditions  were 
changed.  The  air  being  cold  was  more  condensed  and 
contained  more  oxygen  in  proportion  to  its  volume  than 
the  air  in  the  warmer  climates.  Short,  wide  air  passages 
to  the  lungs  were  not  necessary.  On  the  other  hand,  they 
were  a  disadvantage,  as  cold  air  quickly  killed  off  those 
with  the  flattest,  widest  noses  and  shallowest  lungs,  just 
as  it  kills  negroes  by  pneumonia,  bronchitis  and  tubercu- 
losis in  our  northern  climates  today.    Since  those  with 


Selection  of  Individuals  253 

the  shortest  and  flattest  noses  were  killed  off  by  climate, 
it  follows  that  those  with  the  longest,  highest,  narrowest 
noses  survived.  The  high,  thin  nose  was  therefore  evolved 
in  the  same  environment  with  blondeness.  *  *  *  It  was 
evolved  in  the  midst  of  environments  necessitating  great 
activity  and  aggressiveness.  It  is  therefore  always  asso- 
ciated with  positive  energy.  The  low  short  or  flat  nose 
is  associated  with  comparative  inactivity  and  moderate 
or  deficient  energy.'*  Other  similar  anthropological 
speculations  refer  to  the  form  of  forehead  and  mouth 
and  chin  which  together  give  a  more  convex  or  flat  or  con- 
cave type  of  face ;  again  others  to  the  texture  of  the  skin, 
to  the  hands,  and  so  on. 

The  use  to  be  made  of  all  these  interesting  ideas  is  very 
simple.  We  must  analyze  the  requirements  of  the  po- 
sition and  then  see  which  of  the  mental  traits  needed 
can  be  expected  from  a  concave  face  or  from  a  convex 
face,  from  a  long-fingered  or  from  a  short-fingered,  from 
a  blue-eyed  or  from  a  brown-eyed,  from  a  fine-textured 
or  from  a  coarse-skinned  man,  and  then  we  can  easily  se- 
lect among  the  candidates. 

THE  ERBOR  OF  THE  BLACKFORD  PLAN 

But  unfortunately  the  prophets  of  this  new  creed  have 
to  make  a  concession  which  fundamentally  destroys  all 
their  premises.  We  may  know  what  the  color  of  the  hair 
indicates  and  also  what  the  convexity  of  the  profile  sug- 
gests, but  the  knowledge  of  these  two  groups  of  mental 
traits  corresponding  to  each  of  the  two  physical  traits 
does  not  tell  us  which  mental  traits  result  from  the  com- 
bination of  the  two.  From  merely  knowing  the  character- 
istics of  hydrogen  and  the  characteristics  of  oxygen  we 
do  not  at  all  know  the  traits  of  that  combination  of  hydro- 
gen and  oxygen  which  we  call  water.    The  book  says  di- 


254  Business  Psychology 

rectly:  **  Combinations  of  the  nine  elements  of  human 
character  in  different  proportions  yield  characteristics 
not  indicated  by  any  one  of  the  nine.  Two  men  may  be 
almost  exact  counterparts  of  each  other  in  texture,  size, 
form,  color  and  consistency,  but  on  account  of  a  differ- 
ence in  proportion,  expression  and  condition  one  will  be 
a  lazy,  shiftless,  careless,  irresponsible  burden  upon  so- 
ciety, and  the  other  a  successful  financier.'*  As  soon  as 
we  acknowledge  that  most  fundamental  traits  result  from 
the  particular  combination  of  the  various  anthropological 
features,  we  have  given  the  case  entirely  out  of  our  hands. 
The  speculation  concerning  the  significance  of  any  one 
special  feature  is  vague  enough  and  probably  misleading 
enough.  Not  only  in  exceptional  but  in  very  many  cases 
energetic  brunettes  and  lazy  blondes  can  be  found.  But 
if  it  comes  to  the  combination  of  the  physical  traits  and 
their  effect  on  the  mental  symptoms,  we  have  not  even 
such  racial  speculations  at  our  disposal,  but  we  are  en- 
tirely dependent  upon  imagination.  Then  the  decisions 
become  arbitrary  in  every  respect  and  in  no  way  better 
than  all  the  well-known  current  prejudices  which  men 
form  in  their  contact  with  others,  mostly  by  generalizing 
some  chance  experiences  and  afterward  projecting  their 
pet  theories  into  daily  work.  In  the  last  report  of  the 
National  Association  of  Corporation  Schools,  the  agency 
instructor  of  the  Travelers '  Insurance  Company  in  Hart- 
ford, Connecticut,  says: 

My  experience  warns  me  against  the  big,  wellbuilt,  handsome 
man.  The  man  who  is  fat,  rather  gross  in  his  avoirdupois,  is 
rarely  ever  a  success  as  a  salesman.  The  little  fellow  is  often  so 
full  of  snap  and  ginger  that  I  am  quite  likely  to  have  my 
doubts  overcome  by  my  love  for  the  push  and  briskness  of  this 
man.  They  are  at  quite  a  disadvantage,  especially  in  gaining 
an  opening,  a  most  important  part  of  saleswork.    The  big,  hand- 


Selection  of  Individuals  255 

some  fellow  has  made  his  way  so  much  on  his  shape  that  his  gray- 
matter  runs  in  shallow  rivulets.  He  gets  in  to  his  man  but  can- 
not stand  a  trying  mental  combat.  As  to  shade  of  complexion, 
I  am  inclined  to  shun  two  types,  the  oily-skinned,  dark  com- 
plexions and  the  extreme  blonde  with  coarse  complexion.  The 
former  is  apt  to  be  crafty  and  somewhat  unprincipled,  the  latter 
is  too  fastidious  and  usually  unreliable  when  the  fair  sex  is 
around. 

Arbitrary  pseudo-theories  of  this  kind  can  be  discov- 
ered in  most  cases  when  men  have  dealt  for  many  years 
with  the  selection  of  applicants,  and  the  theory  of  one 
always  contradicts  that  of  the  next.  There  is  every  time 
a  bit  of  truth  in  it,  and  certainly  those  speculations  on 
race  evolution  also  have  such  a  core  of  truth,  but  the 
actual  conditions  of  mental  life  are  far  too  complex  to 
allow  such  simple  rules. 

IN  WHAT  THE  BLACKFORD  FLAN  SUCCEEDS 

The  fact  that  the  Blackford  employment  plan  has 
found  so  many  friends,  especially  in  the  Middle  West, 
can  easily  be  understood.  The  application  of  this  system 
has  indeed  resulted  in  an  improvement  of  the  working 
force  wherever  industrial  establishments  employ  Black- 
ford counselors.  The  mistake  is  only  in  connecting  these 
improvements  with  the  details  of  these  biological  fancies, 
instead  of  connecting  them  with  the  fundamental  fact 
that  a  systematic  method  is  introduced  into  the  process 
of  selecting  applicants. 

In  most  of  the  mills  and  factories  the  employment  is 
carried  on  without  any  principle  of  selecting  applicants 
at  all.  The  appointing  and  dismissing  is  left  to  the  ad- 
ministrative periphery.  There  is  no  central  organ  in  the 
establishment  by  which  this  most  important  function  is 
uniformly  organized,  and  this  means  that  it  is  not  put 


256  Business  Psychology 

into  the  hands  of  specialists.  The  appointing  and  dis- 
missing is  treated  as  a  kind  of  side  function  for  anyone 
in  a  higher  position  instead  of  its  being  made  the  special 
function  of  experts  who  have  nothing  to  do  but  to  study 
the  problems  of  selecting  the  right  persons. 

Wherever  the  appointment  is  taken  out  of  the  hands  of 
the  scores  of  foremen  and  heads  of  the  various  depart- 
ments and  is  transplanted  to  a  central  bureau  in  which 
no  other  work  is  done  but  the  selecting  of  men  and  women 
for  all  positions  in  the  establishment,  a  definite  advance 
will  be  made,  however  unsatisfactory  the  special  methods 
may  be  which  are  employed  in  that  central  office.  It  will 
at  least  remove  the  carelessness  and  thoughtlessness  and 
superficiality  with  which  this  most  momentous  activity 
is  usually  carried  out.  The  insisting  on  the  centraliza- 
tion of  the  employment  function  is  the  real  source  of  suc- 
cess for  this  new  employment  plan.  This  centralization 
ought  to  be  established  everywhere,  but  this  does  not  en- 
dorse or  even  in  the  least  excuse  the  particular  prescrip- 
tions of  this  anthropological  pet  plan  of  today. 

Tests  fob  Mental  Teaits 

If  the  existence  or  absence  of  mental  traits  is  to  be 
found  out  in  the  interest  of  the  positions  to  be  filled,  we 
have  after  all  only  one  really  reliable  method,  and  that 
is  to  observe  that  mental  trait  itself.  The  help  which  we 
get  from  group  psychology  is  not  to  be  disregarded,  and 
the  well-trained  observer  will  also  be  able  to  get  some 
slight  suggestions  from  the  physical  appearance  and  the 
features  of  the  physiognomy.  But  an  exact,  reliable,  and 
really  satisfactory  result  can  after  all  be  hoped  for  only 
from  the  direct  measurement  of  the  special  function. 

If  a  place  is  to  be  filled,  the  first  requirement  is  there- 
fore a  definite  and  satisfactory  study  of  the  mental  traits 


Selection  of  Individuals  257 

and  abilities  needed  for  the  best  work  in  the  place,  and 
secondly  an  exact  examination  of  those  required  mental 
functions  in  the  individual  case.  If  a  position  needs  a 
good  memory  for  figures,  or  a  long  continued  vigilance  of 
attention,  or  an  ability  for  foreign  languages,  or  quick- 
ness and  exactitude  of  motor  reactions,  or  a  quick  un- 
derstanding of  signals,  it  is  certainly  not  enough  to  know 
that  such  an  ability  frequently  occurs  in  a  certain  race 
and  still  less  to  rely  on  the  belief  that  it  occurs  together 
with  a  certain  handwriting  or  with  a  certain  nose ;  but  the 
memory  or  the  attention  or  the  speed  of  mental  action 
must  simply  be  measured.  That  is  psychological  work. 
If  the  employment  is  really  to  be  regulated  by  experts, 
these  places  of  experts  must  be  filled  by  trained  psycholo- 
gists. No  imitation  of  true  psychological  methods  can 
help.  The  substitute  is  not  only  less  good,  but  directly 
misleading. 

This  does  not  indicate  that  the  psychological  examina- 
tion must  demand  the  real  performance  of  the  work  for 
which  the  candidate  is  to  be  appointed.  If  that  were  the 
plan,  it  would  simply  go  back  to  a  trying-out,  and  as  the 
true  trial  would  need  long  observation,  we  should  fall 
back  to  the  old  method  of  keeping  a  man  in  a  place  and 
throwing  him  on  the  street  when  lack  of  good  results  sug- 
gests that  he  is  not  fit  for  the  place. 

The  fundamental  difference  of  the  psychological 
method  is  the  application  of  so-called  tests  by  which  the 
mental  function  is  isolated  and  is  exactly  measured,  while 
it  is  applied  not  to  the  complex  tasks  of  practical  life,  but 
to  simple,  artificial  material.  We  must  consider  these 
mental  tests  and  their  practical  application. 


258  Business  Psychology 

TEST  QUESTIONS 

1.  What  is  meant  by  group  psychology  ? 

2.  How  may  group  psychology  be  applied  in  hiring  men  in 
the  mass,  as  for  railroad  construction  work? 

3.  What  are  some  of  the  practical  applications'  of  group 
psychology  as  to  age  ?  As  to  sex  ? 

4.  What  is  meant  by  correlation  psychology? 

5.  To  what  extent  would  you  rely  upon  a  person 's  handwrit- 
ing in  forming  an  estimate  of  his  character? 

6.  Is  there  any  value  in  the  study  of  phrenology?    Do  you 
use  it  with  results? 

7.  Upon   what   theory   is  the   Blackford   employment   plan 
based  ?    To  what  extent  is  the  plan  useful  ? 


CHAPTER  XVin 

MENTAIi  TESTS 

Testimonials  and  Cebtificates 

If  we  wish  to  find  out  whether  a  man  or  woman  has  or 
has  not  certain  desirable  mental  features,  we  can  carry  on 
our  examination  in  several  ways.  First  we  may  look 
backward  and  inquire  into  the  life  history  of  the  person. 
His  experiences,  his  successes  and  failures,  an  account 
of  his  studies  and  of  his  reading,  of  his  training  and  of 
his  work,  may  quickly  show  us  some  of  his  strength  and 
some  of  his  weaknesses.  Much  of  this  account  can  be 
found  condensed  in  testimonials  and  certificates,  in  let- 
ters of  reference  and  similar  data  for  which  other  judges 
take  the  responsibility. 

SeltF-Observation 

Another  way  on  which  nowadays  emphasis  has  some- 
times been  placed  is  the  self -observational  method.  The 
applicant  has  to  fill  out  a  blank  in  which  his  replies  indi- 
cate the  presence  or  absence  of  various  important  mental 
functions.  He  himself  has  to  write  whether  or  not  he  has 
good  memory,  whether  or  not  he  is  quick,  modest, 
courageous,  patient,  industrious,  temperate,  honest,  in- 
terested in  reading,  and  so  on.  Sometimes  sheets  are 
printed  with  a  list  of  mental  qualities  which  comprises 
every  important  feature  of  the  mind  and  the  candidate  is 
to  indicate  whether  he  feels  himself  strong  or  neutral  or 
weak  in  every  point. 

259 


260  Business  Psychology 

Such  a  method  is  psychologically  very  unsatisfactory. 
We  would  have  to  know  the  man  exactly  beforehand  in 
order  to  determine  what  value  can  be  given  to  such  self- 
observation.  The  modest  man  would  rate  his  abilities  far 
too  low;  the  immodest  pusher  would  rate  them  far  too 
high;  and  whether  he  is  modest  or  immodest  we  should 
know  again  only  from  his  own  estimation.  Some  very 
conscientious  candidate  may  tell  us  that  he  is  lazy  and 
dishonest,  but  the  chances  of  that  are  certainly  very 
small. 

If  such  a  method  is  used  at  all,  care  ought  to  be  taken 
at  least  that  the  questions  are  not  formulated,  as  is  usual, 
to  ask  whether  that  valuable  quality  is  present  or  is  not 
present  but  so  that  the  answer  always  has  to  decide  be- 
tween two  equally  good  qualities.  If  you  ask  a  man 
whether  he  is  able  to  do  his  work  quickly  or  whether  he 
is  unable  to  do  so,  he  will  hardly  acknowledge  that  he  is 
of  a  phlegmatic  type,  but  if  you  ask  him  whether  his  tend- 
ency is  to  do  his  work  quickly  or  rather  to  do  it  de- 
liberately, his  natural  inclination  will  come  out,  as  his 
trait  on  either  side  will  appear  to  him  as  a  virtue. 

DEFECTS  OP  THE   SELF-OBSERVATIONAL   METHOD 

But  the  chief  defect  of  the  method  lies  much  deeper. 
A  man  does  not  know  his  mental  qualities.  We  know 
some  very  glaring  defects  of  our  mind.  But  the  average 
man  fulfills  or  neglects  to  fulfill  his  daily  duties  without 
really  thinking  about  his  own  mental  qualities  and  with- 
out being  able  to  state  them  in  any  reliable  way.  He 
has  no  idea  what  kind  of  attention  or  memory  or 
imagery  or  will  lies  at  the  bottom  of  his  mental  be- 
havior. He  does  not  know  his  peculiar  traits  in  their 
general  tendency  and  still  less  in  the  subtle  details  which 
are  essential  for  his  success  or  failure  in  a  commercial  or 


Mental  Tests  261 

industrial  position.  The  exact  experiment  alone  can  de- 
termine these  individual  differences.  Well-selected  men- 
tal test  experiments  constitute  the  only  method  by  which 
the  mental  fitness  of  men  for  special  work  can  be  found 
out  beforehand  in  a  reliable  way. 

It  is  only  essential  that  the  aim  of  the  tests  always  be 
kept  in  mind.  The  purpose  is  to  become  able  to  foresee 
the  individual's  mental  behavior  in  certain  complex  prac- 
tical situations  from  the  results  of  elementary  actions 
under  measurable  experimental  conditions.  The  purpose 
of  the  experiment  is  not  simply  to  anticipate  the  whole 
situation  which  life  may  bring.  That  would  not  be  a  test ; 
that  would  simply  be  a  rehearsal.  If  we  want  to  examine 
whether  the  man  has  the  rapidity  of  mental  action  which 
is  needed  for  the  driver  of  a  motor  car  if  he  is  to  avoid 
accidents,  we  do  not,  make  a  psychological  test  if  we  put 
him  on  an  automobile  and  watch  him  for  a  month  and 
notice  how  many  children  he  runs  over.  The  psychologist 
would  analyze  the  requirements  into  their  various  ele- 
ments. One  of  these  elements  would  be  the  rapidity  of 
action  in  response  to  a  quick  visual  impression.  He  would 
measure  this  particular  rapidity  by  a  series  of  experi- 
ments in  the  laboratory  room.  There  an  electric  appa- 
ratus is  arranged  by  which  a  picture  is  suddenly  thrown 
on  the  wall,  and  the  candidate  holds  a  lever  in  hand  as  if 
he  had  to  change  the  direction  of  a  car.  As  soon  as  the 
picture  flashes  up  he  has  to  move  the  lever  as  quickly  as 
possible.  This  lever  itself  has  electric  attachments,  and 
the  time  from  the  flashing  up  of  the  picture  to  the  motion 
of  the  hand  can  be  read  from  the  electric  clock  in  hun- 
dredths of  a  second.  The  same  reaction  may  be  studied 
for  the  foot  which  presses  the  clutch  or  brakes. 

The  individual  differences  between  this  element  of  the 
chauffeur 's  activity  in  the  case  of  the  fit  man  and  in  the 


262  Business  Psychology 

case  of  the  man  who  is  too  slow  can  be  brought  out  by  a 
short  series  of  reaction  measurements  which  may  be  com- 
pleted in  ten  minutes.  In  the  same  way  all  the  other 
parts  of  the  chauffeur *s  work  can  be  reduced  to  their 
mental  components  and  each  can  be  reduced  to  a  simple 
experimental  test.  If  any  one  of  these  necessary  parts 
is  lacking  or  insuflBciently  developed  in  the  mental  make- 
up of  the  candidate,  he  ought  to  be  ehminated  at  the  start. 
A  mental  chain  too  is  only  as  strong  as  its  weakest  link. 

Obsebvation  of  the  Subjective  Factors 

The  most  important  condition  for  real  test  work  is  the 
careful  observation  of  the  changing  subjective  factors. 
The  feeling-mood  of  the  subject,  fatigue  or  freshness,  at- 
tentiveness  or  distraction,  familiarity  or  unfamiliarity 
with  the  material,  prejudices  against  mental  examination, 
the  liking  or  disliking  of  the  experiment  and  of  the  ex- 
perimenter, may  have  strong  influence  on  the  results. 
The  most  immediate  way  of  overcoming  at  least  the 
smaller  fluctuations  of  the  subjective  states  lies  in  the 
systematic  repetition  of  the  test.  Yet  even  then  it  must 
be  considered  that  the  repetition  itself  changes  the  sub- 
jective state  and  creates  a  familiarity  with  the  method 
and  a  training  in  the  reaction,  perhaps  even  an  increasing 
dislike  of  the  test.  One  or  two  tests  can  never  give  a 
satisfactory  basis  for  a  judgment,  as  there  are  too  many 
varying  mental  factors  always  at  work  to  push  the  result 
in  one  or  another  direction  away  from  the  central  value 
of  the  underlying  disposition. 

The  mental  states  which  may  be  explored  by  such  test 
methods  cover  sensation  and  perception,  association  and 
memory,  imagination  and  abstraction,  the  whole  mani- 
f oldness  of  psychological  attitudes  and  activities,  such  as 
attention  and  inhibition,  discrimination  and  decision,  feel- 


Mental  Tests  263 

ing  and  emotion,  suggestibility  and  energy,  intelligence 
and  will.  In  every  one  of  these  processes  a  great  variety 
of  special  phases  can  be  followed  up.  A  mere  testing 
for  memory  in  general  or  for  attention  in  general  or  for 
energy  in  general  would  be  utterly  misleading.  We 
know  how  in  practical  life  admirable  courage  before 
physical  danger  may  go  together  with  cowardice  in  the 
world  of  convictions,  how  excellent  memory  for  words 
may  not  exclude  a  far-reaching  deficiency  of  memory  for 
colors,  how  the  most  energetic  will  in  dealing  with  other 
persons  may  be  coupled  with  deplorable  lack  of  will- 
power in  overcoming  one's  own  desires. 

The  subtlest  differentiation  of  the  tests  is  accordingly 
necessary.  The  variety  of  test  forms  is  naturally  un- 
limited, but  in  order  to  make  the  results  comparable  it  is 
very  desirable  to  standardize  the  material  to  be  used.  If 
a  picture  with  many  details  is  used  to  test  the  fidelity  of 
the  subject's  report,  one  picture  may  be  no  better  than 
any  other.  But  as  soon  as  one  set  of  pictures  has  been 
chosen,  it  is  certainly  desirable  that  later  tests  with  other 
men  be  carried  on  with  the  same  pictures  in  order  that 
the  results  may  be  referred  to  an  average  standard. 

CoMMERCiAi.  Psychological  Laboratories 

It  must  be  hoped  that  laboratories  in  which  such  tests 
are  carried  out  by  psychological  experts  will  become  at- 
tached to  large  commercial  and  industrial  establishments 
as  essential  parts  of  a  centralized  employment  oflBce. 
Moreover  such  institutions  ought  to  be  established  in 
connection  with  municipal  vocational  bureaus  which  are 
to  help  boys  and  girls  who  leave  school  to  find  practical 
positions  for  which  they  are  really  fit  and  in  which  they 
have  fair  chances  to  be  successful.  Finally  it  may  be  ex- 
pected that  private  psychological  institutes,  managed  by 

18a 


264  Business  Psychology 

consulting  psychological  engineers,  will  be  put  at  the  dis- 
posal of  the  public  in  a  commercial  way  in  order  that 
the  small  business  company  may  send  an  applicant  to 
such  an  establishment  for  careful  testing.  The  most  es- 
sential demand,  of  course,  is  that  not  only  the  mental 
functions  of  the  individual  be  tested,  but  that  the  psycho- 
logical requirements  of  the  particular  position  be  care- 
fully analyzed  by  an  expert  psychologist.  As  long  as 
such  experts  are  rare,  any  intelligent  business  man  can 
determine  at  least  the  essential  psychological  require- 
ments of  his  positions  for  himself,  if  he  has  ever  gone 
through  a  careful  study  of  the  fundamentals  of  psy- 
chology. 

Practical  Tests 

tests  fob  sensations  and  perceptions 

We  may  review  at  least  some  of  the  most  accessible 
methods  which  could  be  applied  even  in  a  small  commer- 
cial industrial  laboratory,  leaving  out  of  consideration 
the  subtle  methods  which  would  demand  the  equipment 
of  a  university  laboratory.  We  may  leave  out  refer- 
ence to  the  various  tests  of  sensations  and  perceptions, 
including  the  perception  of  space  and  time.  Tests  of  this 
kind  are  on  the  whole  not  very  important  for  commercial 
and  industrial  purposes,  if  we  omit  consideration  of  those 
more  physiological  questions  of  short-sightedness,  astig- 
matism, color-blindness,  and  similar  deficiencies  of  seeing 
which  may  be  extremely  important  in  many  positions.  In 
others  touch  and  taste  and  smell  are  of  equal  significance 
and  certainly  every  laboratory  ought  to  be  provided  with 
all  the  means  for  testing  the  senses  when  there  is  need 
for  it  But  we  have  to  consider  more  especially  the  high- 
er mental  processes,  and  may  turn  our  attention  first  to 


Mental  Tests  265 

the  memory-ideas  and  to  the  whole  field  of  reproduction 
and  association,  a  field  in  which  the  possible  tests  are 
practically  innumerable. 

TESTS   FOR   MEMORY 

The  natural  beginning  is  the  test  of  the  ability  to  recall 
earlier  experiences.  The  applicant  has  to  describe  the 
memory-reproduction  of  a  visual  or  acoustical  or  tactual 
experience  of  the  past.  The  question  may  be  how  far  he 
can  see  before  his  mind  a  street  scene  in  colors,  in  move- 
ment, in  sharp  outlines,  how  far  he  can  reproduce  in  his 
consciousness  the  various  sounds,  noises,  and  melodies. 
The  next  question  may  refer  to  the  ability  to  reproduce  a 
series  of  numbers,  words,  nonsense  syllables,  geometric 
figures,  pictures,  in  the  order  in  which  they  were  pre- 
sented. Variations  of  the  experiment  may  refer  to  the 
quality  of  the  material,  to  the  number  of  objects,  to  the 
time  of  presentation,  to  the  time  interval  between  pres- 
entation and  reproduction,  to  the  senses  to  which  it  is 
presented,  to  the  effect  of  repetition,  and  to  many  other 
psycho-physical  conditions.  One  kind  of  material  can 
never  simply  be  substituted  for  another.  Experiments 
with  disconnected  words  are  very  different  from  those 
with  meaningless  syllables. 

The  methods  of  the  tests  are  manifold  too.  The  ex- 
periment may  determine  the  number  of  members  in  a 
series  which  is  retained  in  memory  after  a  certain  num- 
ber of  repetitions,  or  the  number  of  repetitions  necessary 
for  the  series  to  be  reproduced  with  complete  correctness. 
Or  we  may  study  the  number  of  cases  in  which  prompt- 
ing is  required  to  enable  the  subject  to  render  the  series. 
Or,  as  would  be  necessary  with  colors  or  pictures,  the 
method  may  demand  the  measurement  of  the  number  of 
objects  which  can  be  rearranged  in  correct  order  or  in 


266  Business  Psychology 

which  a  substitution  would  become  noticeable.  A  neat 
test  for  the  rapidity  with  which  mere  repetition  produces 
memory  connections  is  the  so-called  substitution  test  in 
which  the  subject  learns  to  connect  the  nine  digits  with 
nine  geometric  symbols. 

TESTS   FOB   ASSOCIATION 

Such  tests  of  learning  lead  to  the  so-called  association 
tests,  in  which  a  word  or  a  picture,  or  another  visual  or 
acoustical  or  tactual  stimulus  is  given,  and  the  subject  is 
asked  to  make  known  the  first  idea  which  associates  itself 
with  the  perception.  The  typical  form  is  the  calling  of  a 
word  with  the  request  to  give  as  response  the  first  new 
word  which  comes  to  consciousness.  The  experimenter 
shouts  ''house,"  and  the  subject  answers  ** chimney"  or 
''garden"  or  "window"  or  "mortgage"  or  "brown"  or 
"small"  or  the  rhyming  association,  "mouse,"  or  any- 
thing else  which  first  rushes  to  his  mind.  A  long  list  of 
such  responses  will  furnish  the  material  for  a  variety  of 
observations.  First  it  shows  the  sphere  of  experiences 
and  the  direction  of  personal  interests.  But  more  es- 
sential for  the  purpose  of  applied  psychology  is  that  it 
further  shows  the  associative  tendencies  of  the  mental 
mechanism. 

We  have  only  to  classify  the  associations  from  perhaps 
a  hundred  words  with  reference  to  their  external  and  in- 
ternal connections  and  to  subdivide  both  groups.  There 
may  be  associations  which  refer  strictly  to  the  similarity 
of  sound  of  the  words,  others  in  which  the  words  have 
been  connected  in  earlier  experience,  others  which  are 
based  on  the  space  or  time  connections  or  their  objects, 
others  in  which  the  relation  of  the  objects  is  one  of  simi- 
larity or  of  an  internal  reference.  The  individual  dif- 
ferences of  the  prevalence  of  certain  groups  are  very 


Mental  Tests  267 

striking.  When  questions  of  life-work  are  involved,  it 
seems  that  the  most  significant  inquiry  refers  to  the  in- 
dividually  different  tendencies  of  co-ordination,  subordi- 
nation, and  superordination.  The  mind  which  at  once 
links  with  a  concrete  object  some  co-ordinated  object,  like 
table-chair,  is  a  very  different  mind  from  that  which 
thinks  of  a  superordinated  idea,  like  table-furniture,  and 
again  different  from  the  mind  which  thinks  of  a  subordi- 
nated idea,  like  table-drawer. 

Another  aspect  of  the  association  experiment  is  the 
time  duration  of  the  process.  If  the  inquiry  were  carried 
on  for  the  purpose  of  theoretical  psychology,  the  time  be- 
tween the  seeing  or  hearing  of  the  word  and  the  speaking 
of  the  association  would  have  to  be  measured  in  hun- 
dredths of  a  second.  But  for  the  test  of  individual  dif- 
ferences in  the  interest  of  practical  purposes,  a  simpler 
measurement  in  fifths  of  a  second  can  give  satisfactory 
service  if  a  long  list  of  associations,  at  least  fifty,  is  se- 
cured. If  not  even  a  watch  with  fifths  of  a  second  is  at 
our  disposal,  a  still  simpler  method  may  be  applied.  In- 
stead of  measuring  a  large  number  of  single  association 
times,  we  may  be  satisfied  with  the  measurement  of  the 
total  time  needed  for  a  whole  series  of  about  fifty  words. 
In  such  cases  a  typewritten  list  of  words  would  be  cov- 
ered and  the  cover  shifted  from  word  to  word  each  time 
when  an  association  for  the  preceding  one  has  been 
formed.  As  each  association  would  vary  between  three 
fourths  of  a  second  and  perhaps  three  seconds  with  an 
average  of  one  and  a  half  seconds,  the  time  for  such  a 
series  of  fifty  would  be  more  than  a  minute  and  could 
easily  be  measured  with  the  second  dial  of  a  watch. 

From  this  starting  point  the  association  experiment 
may  move  in  various  directions.  Instead  of  calling  only 
the  first  word  which  comes  to  consciousness  a  whole  train 


268  Business  Psychology 

of  ideas  may  be  expressed  and  the  interest  will  then  refer 
not  only  to  the  content  of  the  words  but  also  to  the  more 
formal  aspect,  for  instance,  to  the  tendency  to  return  to 
the  first  word,  or  to  move  in  side-lines  of  thought,  or  to 
repeat  words,  or  to  jump  to  disconnected  words,  or  to 
prefer  large  clusters  of  nearly  related  words. 

TESTS  FOB  ATTENTION 

(1)  TachistoscopicTest 

The  mental  tests  for  attention  can  easily  be  adjusted  to 
many  different  problems.  The  classical  form  of  the  test 
for  attention  is  the  *  *  tachistoscopic  test."  A  tachisto- 
scope  is  an  instrument  for  quick,  short  exposure  of  a  pic- 
ture. A  falling  screen  with  an  opening  may  expose  the 
visual  field  for  a  measurable  fraction  of  a  second,  or  a 
photographic  shutter  may  perform  a  similar  service,  or 
the  light  which  falls  on  the  visual  surface  may  be  cut  off 
and  admitted  only  for  a  very  short  time  by  an  opening 
in  a  revolving  disk  or  a  similar  device,  or  a  pendulum 
apparatus  may  produce  optical  impressions  in  quick  suc- 
cession, each  presented  for  an  instant.  In  each  case  let- 
ters of  figures  or  words,  connected  or  disconnected  forms, 
pictures,  and  so  on,  may  be  used,  and  the  number  of  ele- 
ments attended,  their  position  and  their  relation  be 
studied. 

The  number  of  words  which  can  be  grasped  in  one  such 
pulse-beat  of  attention  is  almost  as  large  as  the  number 
of  single  letters  which  can  be  attended  in  the  same  time. 
At  every  test  for  the  purpose  of  individual  analysis  such 
facts  of  general  psychology  must  be  carefully  considered. 
It  would  be  utterly  meaningless  to  compare  the  number 
of  letters  recognized  by  various  individuals  if  in  one 
case  disconnected  letters,  in  another  short  words,  were 


Mental  Tests  269 

given.  Instead  of  examining  the  number  of  elements 
recognized  in  one  act  of  attention  we  may  study  the  num- 
ber of  repetitions  necessary  before  all  the  elements  are 
correctly  recognized. 

(2)  Span  of  Attention  and  Influence   of  Preparatory 

Setting 

The  next  step  is  marked  by  attention  experiments  in 
which  the  visual  object  contains  many  unequal  elements, 
such  as  form,  color,  position,  and  the  attention  is  turned 
beforehand  to  one  of  the  various  aspects.  Cards  may  be 
exposed,  seen  through  a  photographic  shutter,  which  are 
covered  with  crescents,  triangles,  squares,  crosses,  and 
circles  of  different  sizes  and  different  colors.  The  ability 
to  concentrate  the  attention  on  the  color  only  or  on  the 
form  only  can  there  be  studied  from  various  points  of 
view.  Such  little  experiments  on  the  span  of  attention 
and  on  the  influence  of  its  preparatory  setting  can  throw 
light  on  mental  dispositions  which  become  decisive  for 
the  life-work  of  the  men  in  commerce  and  industry.  From 
here  we  may  also  turn  to  experiments  on  suggestion  and 
suggestibility.  Typewritten  words  which  contain  mis- 
prints may  be  exposed  for  a  small  fraction  of  a  second 
and  the  suggestive  influence  of  the  familiar  word  on  the 
reading  of  the  mutilated  word  may  be  examined. 

A  simple  test  for  suggestibility,  especially  of  unedu- 
cated persons,  is  a  comparison  of  circles  of  equal  size  in 
each  of  which  figures  of  different  denomination  have  been 
inscribed.  The  suggestible  person  considers  the  circle 
with  the  figure  79  larger  than  the  circle  with  the  figure 
21.  Other  forms  of  experiments  in  visual  suggestibility 
introduce  suggestive  questions  in  order  to  mislead  the 
subject's  account  of  the  details  of  a  picture  which  has 
been  shown  to  him.    Or  we  may  measure  suggestibility  by 


270  Business  Psychology 

seeking  the  point  at  which  an  expected  warm  sensation 
or  an  expected  galvanic  current  will  be  felt  in  an  elec- 
trode, and  so  on. 

(3)  Interests  and  Inclinations  of  Attention 

This  leads  to  the  experiments  through  which  the  indi- 
vidual direction  of  attention  and  the  correctness  of  the 
apprehension  is  studied.  The  most  usual  form  is  the 
showing  of  a  complex  picture  and  the  request  for  a  de- 
scription of  all  that  has  been  seen.  But  this  test  evidently 
involves  other  functions  besides  attention  and  interest. 
The  power  to  recall  the  first  observation  and  to  express 
the  report  in  the  form  of  language  is  here  no  less  under 
examination.  The  test  is  of  the  highest  importance,  as 
it  casts  light  on  the  ability  to  give  reliable  reports.  The 
mere  picture  experiment  is  the  simplest  form,  but  ought 
to  be  accompanied  by  the  exhibition  of  more  or  less  fa- 
miliar objects,  such  as  bric-a-brac  or  tools.  The  reports 
made  by  the  subjects  should  be  examined  not  only  with 
reference  to  the  number  of  correct  and  incorrect  data 
but  also  with  reference  to  the  choice  of  details.  They 
indicate  the  general  interests  and  the  types  of  descrip- 
tion, that  is,  whether  the  description  shows  more  an  ob- 
servational or  an  imaginative  or  a  scholarly  associative 
or  an  objectively  descriptive  tendency. 

As  a  test  which  quickly  shows  the  interests  and  inclina- 
tions of  attention,  it  is  sufficient  to  have  cards  with  lists 
of  words,  in  which  different  interests  are  represented  by 
ten  words  each.  A  list  of  fifty  words,  for  instance,  may 
contain  in  irregular  order  ten  words  referring  to  farming, 
ten  to  factory  life,  ten  to  banking,  ten  to  salesmanship, 
ten  to  transportation.  The  subject  is  asked  to  read  them 
aloud  and  to  decide  which  of  those  five  groups  is  repre- 
sented by  the  largest  number  of  words.    The  number  is 


Mental  Tests  271 

usually  overestimated  in  that  group  in  which  the  subject 
is  most  interested.  The  temporal  relations  of  the  atten- 
tion may  be  tested  at  first  by  exposing  a  printed  word  and 
examining  how  long  it  can  be  looked  at  with  the  conscious- 
ness of  its  meaning  and  when  its  meaning  begins  to 
crumble.  For  the  study  of  the  fluctuation  of  attention 
faint  acoustical  stimuli,  such  as  the  ticking  of  a  watch, 
optical  stimuli,  such  as  grey  circles  of  decreasing  light 
intensity  on  a  white  background,  ought  to  be  used. 

(4)  Endurance  of  Attention 

Among  the  many  tests  by  which  we  measure  the  power 
of  attention  to  remain  continually  at  its  height,  the  most 
popular  in  the  laboratory  is  the  cancellation  test.  In  a 
printed  page  a  certain  letter,  usually  the  r,  or  several 
letters,  a  and  r,  are  to  be  crossed  out  as  rapidly  as  pos- 
sible. Counting  dots  is  frequently  used  too.  Or  rows  of 
figures  are  printed  one  below  another  and  the  subject  has 
to  write  the  sum  or  the  product  of  two  neighboring  fig- 
ures as  quickly  as  possible  beside  them.  Still  more  com- 
plex functions  are  involved  when  a  story  is  typewritten 
in  such  a  way  that  in  every  line  several  blanks  occur  in 
the  midst  of  words.  Only  a  wide-awake  attention  can 
supply  the  missing  letters.  Where  it  flags  the  time  will 
become  abnormally  long  and  letters  will  creep  in  which 
may  fit  the  isolated  word  into  which  they  are  written,  but 
not  the  meaning  of  the  whole  sentence. 

The  division  of  attention  is  open  to  a  variety  of  tests. 
Impressions  belonging  to  the  sphere  of  the  same  sense 
or  to  different  senses  may  be  presented  together.  The 
eyes  may  read  while  the  ears  listen  to  a  different  text 
and  the  amount  of  remembered  material  is  recorded.  Or 
the  attention  for  sense  impressions  is  deflected  by  activi- 
ties ;  learning  and  writing,  listening  and  counting,  may  be 
combined. 


272  Business  Psychology 

Most  of  the  attention  experiments  may  also  be  applied 
as  tests  for  the  actual  fatigue  which  has  set  in  or  for 
the  degree  of  the  tendency  to  fatigue,  and  finally  for  the 
measurement  of  the  restoring  of  psycho-physical  energy. 
The  study  of  fatigue  and  recreation,  however,  is  not  con- 
fined to  methods  which  measure  the  variations  of  atten- 
tion. Indirect  symptoms  of  fatigue  may  be  considered 
too,  such  as  the  changes  in  the  distance  at  which  two 
tactual  stimuli  are  just  recognized  as  two. 

It  is  evident  that  some  of  these  tests  of  endurance  of 
attention  involve  at  the  same  time  more  or  less  complex 
functions  of  intelligence.  We  have  seen  that  the  degrees 
of  intelligence  depend  on  the  one  side  upon  the  energy 
with  which  the  idea  of  the  end  controls  the  inner  mecha- 
nisms of  reproduction  and  inhibition  and  on  the  other  side 
upon  the  skill  with  which  the  available  material  of  the 
mind  is  adjusted  to  the  realization  of  the  purposes.  Sim- 
ple tests  can  easily  unveil  individual  differences  in  both 
directions.  We  may  examine,  for  instance,  the  rapidity 
with  which  missing  words  in  a  sentence  are  supplied  or 
with  which  correct  conclusions  are  drawn  or  with  which 
wrong  conclusions  are  recognized  as  such.  Or  we  may 
give  a  number  of  words  and  the  aim  is  to  formulate  a 
sentence  with  meaning  which  contains  all  those  words. 
Or  the  letters  of  a  word  are  given  in  disorder  and  the 
right  word  is  to  be  constructed  from  them. 

We  may  offer,  for  instance,  a  card  marked  * 'Animals," 
on  which  the  following  ten  groups  of  letters  are  printed : 

Tetrul  Dykeno 

Cidolocer  Jifelylsh 

Bylefrutt  Serdip 

Selquirr  Arotillag 

Etalenph  Galliro 


Mental  Tests  273 

How  long  does  it  take  the  subject  to  recognize  them  as 
the  following  ten  animals? 

Turtle  Donkey 

Crocodile  Jellyfish 

Butterfly  Spider 

Squirrel  Alligator 

Elephant  Gorilla 

How  many  does  he  not  discover  at  all?  In  the  same 
group  of  intelligence  tests,  we  may  classify  various  types 
of  puzzle  games  or  tests  in  which  wooden  pieces  have  to 
be  put  together  in  the  shape  of  a  square  or  of  a  cross  or 
tests  in  which  a  box  has  to  be  opened  by  unfastening 
cleverly  constructed  bolts  which  are  interconnected.  The 
intelligence  tests  blend  with  those  which  show  the  range 
of  knowledge  and  of  acquired  ideas. 

Strictly  speaking,  such  an  inquiry  is  no  longer  a  psy- 
chological test.  It  is  not  a  question  of  the  capacities 
of  the  mind  whether  the  individual  has  learned  foreign 
languages  or  has  musical  or  geographical  or  scientific 
knowledge.  Yet  the  foresight  as  to  the  mental  behavior 
of  the  young  business  man  is,  of  course,  highly  dependent 
upon  the  character  of  the  associative  material,  the  readi- 
ness of  the  dispositions,  and  the  organization  of  the  ideas 
which  he  has  gained  from  education  and  instruction. 
Tests  which  by  typical  questions  determine  the  actual 
mental  results  of  learning  are  for  many  purposes  indis- 
pensable. 

TESTS  OF  FEELINGS 

Tests  of  feelings  naturally  start  from  the  simple  evalu- 
ation of  sense-impressions.  Color  strips  are  shown  on  a 
black  background  and  their  feehng-value  is  measured  on 
a  scale  usually  of  7  degrees,  in  which  1  means  very  at- 


274  Business  Psychology 

tractive,  4  indifferent,  and  7  very  disagreeable.  Or  two 
such  strips  are  shown  and  the  subject  has  to  decide  which 
of  the  two  is  the  more  agreeable.  The  next  step  is  to  com- 
bine two  color  areas  and  to  judge  on  the  attractiveness 
of  the  combination.  In  all  cases  the  interest  refers  not 
only  to  the  qualitative  character  of  the  feeling  but  also 
to  the  constancy  with  which  the  individual  gives  the  same 
feeling-judgment  for  the  same  impression. 

From  simple  stimuli  we  move  forward  to  more  complex 
combinations  in  space  and  time.  Space  forms  from  the 
simplest  to  the  richest  are  aesthetically  graded,  and 
rhythmical  or  unrhythmical  time  forms,  marked  by  clicks, 
are  exposed  to  the  aesthetic  judgment.  Or  the  subject 
has  to  divide  lines  in  the  way  most  pleasing  to  him,  has  to 
change  color  combinations,  has  to  vary  time  intervals, 
has  to  balance  unequal  space  objects,  as  in  the  compo- 
sition of  a  picture.  Individual  tastes,  eccentricities,  abili- 
ties, and  uncertainties  quickly  come  to  expression  and  are 
of  considerable  interest  for  many  practical  purposes. 

The  emotional  tests  ought  to  be  extended  to  include  a 
study  of  the  expressions  and  of  the  physiological  accom- 
paniments. The  pulse  cui*ve  and  the  breathing  curve  can  be 
taken  as  part  of  the  test  work.  The  changes  in  breathing 
and  heart  action  are  particularly  important,  as  they  al- 
low us  to  trace  the  time  relations  of  the  emotional  ex- 
citement; alterations  which  pass  rapidly  with  one  subject 
show  long  after-effects  with  another.  We  can  also  create 
experimental  conditions  for  expectation,  for  surprise,  for 
disappointment  after  tension,  for  slight  anger  or  a  bit  of 
joy;  and  we  can  supplement  the  actual  affections  by  mem- 
ory-images of  earlier  emotional  experiences  and  finally 
by  the  suggestion  of  emotions  through  poetry  or  pictures. 
Other  tests  refer  to  the  influence  of  feelings  on  attention, 
of  the  feelings  on  one  another.    There  are  individuals 


Mental  Tests  275 

whose  feelings  mix,  others  whose  feelings  inhibit  one  an- 
other, others  whose  feelings  strengthen  one  another. 

MEASUREMENT  OP  BEACTTON  TIME 

Another  general  group  of  mental  activities  which  the 
test  may  explore  is  made  up  of  the  voluntary  processes 
the  study  of  which  is  approached  by  the  probing  of  the 
involuntary  actions.  As  examples  of  involuntary  activ- 
ity we  may  study  the  decrease  or  increase  of  pressure  by 
the  changing  tension  of  the  hand  muscles  as  a  result  of 
the  seeing  of  various  colors  or  the  hearing  of  various 
tones.  Involuntary  movements  are  easily  tested  with 
simple  arrangements  in  which  the  arm,  supported  by  a 
loop,  swings  free  and  writes  on  smoked  paper  a  record 
of  the  smallest  movement  impulses  under  the  influence  of 
various  ideas  of  localities.  Voluntary  movements  must 
be  examined  with  reference  to  rapidity,  accuracy,  co-ordi- 
nation, effect  of  practice,  inhibition,  fatigue,  and  so  on. 

The  most  popular  experiment  is  the  measurement  of 
reaction  time.  The  typical  form  demands  a  finger  move- 
ment performed  by  the  subject  as  quickly  as  possible 
after  the  flashing  of  a  light  or  the  starting  of  a  sound  or 
a  tactual  contact.  In  more  complex  experiments  the  re- 
action movement  may  be  a  motion  of  the  lips  in  uttering 
a  sound,  and  this  form  of  reaction  allows  an  unlimited 
complication  of  the  stimulus  and  the  inclusion  of  any  as- 
sociative process  between  the  stimulus  and  the  spoken 
word.  The  visual  object  exposed  by  a  falling  screen 
which  starts  the  chronoscope  may  be  a  letter,  a  color,  a 
figure,  a  word,  a  picture,  or  a  printed  question,  and  the 
reaction  utterance  may  be  an  indication  of  mere  percep- 
tion or  recognition  or  associating  the  name  or  associating 
a  conception  or  a  translation  or  an  answer  to  a  question. 
But  the  simple  reaction  time  without  speech  may  also  be 


276  Business  Psychology 

varied  so  as  to  lead  to  a  complex  choice  of  reactions.  Dif- 
ferent fingers,  for  instance,  may  rest  on  different  levers 
and  start  different  movements  in  response  to  different 
color  stimuli.  The  more  complex  the  processes  involved, 
the  greater  are  the  characteristic  individual  differences. 

The  quickest  possible  succession  of  mental  impulses  is 
usually  studied  in  tapping  movements.  An  electric  rod 
held  between  the  fingers  and  touching  a  metal  plate  may 
supply  a  neat  record  of  the  rhythm  and  its  irregularities. 
The  test  is  to  be  taken  with  the  right  and  the  left  hand 
for  various  time  periods.  But  even  a  mere  tapping  with 
a  pencil  point  on  a  slowly  moving  paper  may  furnish 
some  indication  of  the  individual  abilities. 

Tapping  movements,  however,  are  still  more  sug- 
gestive for  the  analysis  of  the  indi\ddual  dispositions 
when  not  the  quickest  possible  impulses  are  chosen  but 
the  most  natural  personal  rhythms.  If  such  slow  move- 
ments are  recorded,  perhaps  by  tapping  on  a  rubber  bulb 
which  by  air  transmission  through  a  type  moves  a  lever 
that  writes  the  waves  on  a  revolving  drum,  the  most  sub- 
tle changes  of  motor  impulses  can  be  studied.  In  a 
parallel  way  the  natural  rhythm  of  writing,  speaking, 
reading,  walking,  hammering,  can  be  studied  with  im- 
portant consequences  for  technical  psychology.  The  ex- 
amination of  the  precision  and  accuracy  of  movements 
may  be  started  with  simple  aiming  tests  where  quick 
movements  controlled  by  the  beats  of  a  metronome  are 
made  with  the  intention  of  hitting  certain  targets. 

The  simplest  form  demands  only  that  the  subject  have 
before  him  on  the  table  a  large  sheet  of  paper  covered 
with  a  dozen  small  circles.  He  holds  his  pencil  at  the 
central  circle  and  in  the  rhythm  of  the  metronome  beats 
has  to  hit  one  circle  after  another,  always  returning  with 
the  pencil  to  his  starting  point     The  distance  of  the 


Mental  Tests  277 

marks  from  the  centers  of  the  circles  and  the  directions 
of  their  deviations  are  examined  for  the  right  hand  and 
for  the  left,  and  finally  in  experiments  in  which  the  eyes 
are  closed  as  soon  as  the  movement  of  the  arm  is  started. 
The  mental  control  of  the  muscles  at  rest  is  neatly  traced 
by  a  test  in  which  an  electric  pin  is  held  in  the  center  of 
smaller  and  smaller  holes  in  a  metal  screen.  Whenever 
the  pin  comes  in  contact  with  the  edge  of  the  hole  an  elee- 
tric  lever  makes  a  mark,  and  the  number  of  such  marks 
indicates  the  lack  of  steadiness.  Tracing  experiments, 
too,  in  which  a  pin  is  to  be  moved  along  the  thin  edge  of  an 
irregularly  shaped  metal  strip  may  measure  the  accuracy 
of  movement  by  the  number  of  times  the  pin  slips  from 
the  edge. 

Many  variations  are  possible  in  testing  the  abilities  of 
the  subject  to  form  connections.  One  of  the  simplest 
forms  is  the  experiment  in  which  cards  are  to  be  sorted 
quickly.  If  a  pack  of  cards  is  to  be  distributed  in  four 
heaps  according  to  their  suits  and  for  each  suit  a  definite 
place  is  designated,  an  automatism  of  movement  will 
rapidly  be  formed;  the  test  would  then  determine  how 
many  mistakes  would  be  made  if  a  new  place  for  each  of 
the  four  suits  is  prescribed.  The  learning  process  is  per- 
haps most  easily  followed  in  the  writing  movements. 
Definite  figures,  such  as  a  triangle,  a  square,  a  crescent,  a 
circle,  a  cross,  become  associated  with  certain  letters  and 
the  time  necessary  to  master  these  artificial  substitutions 
is  measured.  An  important  test  refers  to  the  dependence 
of  voluntary  movement  impulses  upon  suggestion.  The 
experiment  may  start  with  an  arrangement  in  which  the 
subject  has  to  grasp  quickly  for  one  of  twenty  little  color 
squares  which  are  suddenly  exposed  to  him.  Among 
these  squares  one  may  be  especially  predominant  by  its 
size,  one  by  its  glaring  color,  one  by  its  irregular  position 


278  Business  Psychology 

in  the  visual  field,  and  so  on.  Such  suggestive  influences 
may  be  directly  brought  into  conflict  with  a  preparatory 
will-resolution  to  grasp  for  some  particular  kind  of 
square. 

Actual  Use  of  the  Tests 

The  list  of  such  simple  psychological  household  experi- 
ments could  be  lengthened  without  end.  They  form  the 
routine  tests  to  be  used  in  any  combination.  But  just  as 
in  the  workshop  beside  the  simple  routine  tools,  like  ham- 
mer and  saw  and  chisel,  we  must  have  complex  machines 
for  particular  purposes,  so  in  the  psychological  labora- 
tory these  elementary  methods  adjusted  to  the  simplest 
psychical  functions  must  be  supplemented  by  methods 
which  fit  special  complex  mental  situations.  It  would 
lead  too  far  to  follow  these  subtler  developments  of  the 
science  of  tests  with  which  the  experimental  psycholo- 
gists of  the  day  are  engaged, 

motormen  on  street  railways 

When  the  task,  for  instance,  was  to  select  the  men  fit 
to  become  motormen  on  the  electric  street  railways  I 
found  that  the  choice  could  not  be  made  by  analyzing 
their  mental  operations  into  elements.  The  function 
which  is  most  important  for  them  is  a  characteristic  com- 
bination of  attention  and  imagination  and  readiness  to 
react.  Only  those  who  possess  this  gift  can  foresee  suf- 
ficiently the  probable  movements  of  the  pedestrians  and 
of  the  vehicles  and  can  through  the  whole  time  of  their 
service  hours  at  every  moment  be  ready  to  slow  up  or  to 
stop  the  car  when  danger  is  imminent.  Those  who  do  the 
work  without  this  natural  mental  trend  are  responsible 
for  the  abundance  of  accidents  which  will  occur  on  all 
street  railways  as  long  as  the  men  are  selected  without 


Mental  Tests  279 

reference  to  their  psychological  make-up.  It  was  there- 
fore necessary  to  approach  the  solution  of  this  problem 
by  constructing  a  testing  machine  which  would  somewhat 
imitate  the  conditions  of  the  street  by  moving  points  on 
a  chart  and  to  measure  the  right  and  wrong  reactions  of 
the  candidate.  It  was  possible  to  show  that  on  the  whole 
the  men  who  succeeded  in  the  electric  railway  service 
succeeded  in  the  short  tests,  and  that  those  who  were 
failures  in  the  tests  were  on  the  whole  failures  in  the 
service.  That  is,  a  ten  minutes '  test  could  determine  be- 
forehand what  the  years  of  experience  would  show  at  the 
expense  of  the  public. 

NAVAL  OFFICERS 

In  a  similar  way  when  the  problem  was  to  determine 
the  fitness  of  a  sea  officer  for  his  task  of  facing  a  quick 

E  U  AEAEOAAUEU 

EOEUOEOAUEOE 

EEUEAOEOAEEO 

AUEEUEUEEOEA 
Card  A 

UOEOEAOEEUOU 
OAOUEOOAUOAO 
OOUOEAAAEOOA 
OOUEOUOUOAOE 

Card  B 


280  Business  Psychology 

AEEEOUAEEEUA 
UAUAOAOAOUAO 
AUAUAAOOAEOA 
AEUUEAUOOAAE 

Card  C 

AAEUEUAOOUUE 

UOUEOOUAAUUU 

OUAOUOAUOAUU 

EAUEEUAOEUEE 
CardD 

AOAEEAEA  0  0  U  U 
AAUUAOOUEOEE 
OEOUEOAEUUUU 
EOEAAOEAEEUE 

Card  B 

AAOOEUEUEOEU 
EEAAUOOAOUEU 
AOUOUEOUAAAA 
EUOUEUOEUAUU 

Card  F 


Mental  Tests  281 

TEST  CABDS 

These  cards  are  used  for  testing  individual  ability  to  mate  a 
quick  decision  in  a  complex  situation,  as  for  a  chauffeur  or  a 
motorman.  The  observer  is  to  decide  as  quickly  as  possible  "which 
of  the  four  vowels  is  the  most  frequent.  In  cards  A  and  B  one 
letter  occurs  21  times,  while  the  others  appear  only  9  times.  In 
cards  C  and  D  one  letter  occurs  18  times  and  the  others  10  times. 
In  cards  E  and  F  one  appears  15  times  and  the  others  11  times. 

complex  situation  and  of  making  the  right  decision,  it  was 
again  necessary  to  reproduce  in  elementary  terms  the 
whole  complexity  of  the  situation.  I  proposed  for 
this  purpose  a  system  of  cards  each  of  which  bear  48  let- 
ters, consisting  of  the  4  capital  letters,  A,  E,  0,  and  U,  in 
different  proportion.  A  card  had,  for  instance,  18  A 's,  10 
E's,  10  O's,  and  10  U's.  The  24  cards  had  to  be  sorted 
as  quickly  as  possible  in  4  piles  according  to  the  letter 
which  was  most  frequent  on  the  card.  The  first  impres- 
sion of  such  a  card  is  perplexing,  and  the  subjective  feel- 
ing comes  very  near  to  that  with  which  we  face  a  complex 
situation.  The  results  show  that  some  individuals  think 
quickly  but  wrongly,  that  others  become  somewhat  para- 
lyzed and  delay  the  action,  and  that  only  the  reliable  per- 
sons quickly  make  the  right  decision.  Measuring  the 
seconds  which  this  sorting  of  the  24  cards  needs  and 
counting  the  mistakes  made  and  examining  the  quality 
of  the  mistakes  allows  a  surprisingly  neat  analysis  of  the 
ways  in  which  an  individual  behaves  in  a  sudden  complex 
experience. 

TELEPHONE   OPEBATOBS 

But  after  all  the  most  important  method  is  not  the  con- 
struction of  such  particular  tests  for  particular  demands 


282  Business  Psychology 

bnt  a  fit  combination  of  the  elementary  tests  in  accord- 
ance with  an  analysis  of  the  vocational  work  into  its  par- 
tial functions.  In  this  way  I  studied,  for  instance,  the 
fitness  of  telephone  operators,  analyzing  their  complex 
activity  before  the  switchboard  into  eight  different  sim- 
pler functions,  each  of  which  was  examined  by  itself. 

TRAVELING  SALBSALEN 

To  give  at  least  one  detailed  illustration,  I  may  analyze 
a  recent  concrete  test  for  the  selection  of  traveling  sales- 
men for  the  American  Tobacco  Company.  The  company 
asked  me  whether  it  would  interest  me  to  select  the 
ten  best  men  for  positions  as  salesmen.  Out  of  a  large 
number  of  applicants  who  responded  to  an  advertisement 
they  had  eliminated  those  who  for  reasons  of  health  or 
appearance  or  previous  record  seemed  unfit.  Twenty- 
seven  remained  as  apparently  good  men  for  the  places. 
Out  of  these  twenty-seven  I  was  to  select  the  ten  mentally 
best  fitted.  It  would  lead  too  far  to  give  here  my  argu- 
ments for  using  the  ten  tests,  each  of  which  seemed  to  me 
to  correspond  to  a  particular  need  of  the  position,  as  the 
representatives  of  the  American  Tobacco  Company  de- 
scribed the  practical  requirements  for  these  men  who 
were  to  visit  the  various  tobacco  stores. 

One  of  the  tests  was  an  attention  test.  Each  of  the 
twenty-seven  men,  who  were  together  in  a  classroom,  re- 
ceived a  copy  of  the  same  morning  paper,  the  Boston 
Herald,  This  contains  eight  columns.  They  were  asked 
to  begin  with  the  first  column  and  to  cross  out  as  quickly 
as  possible  every  letter  r.  After  a  minute  a  signal  was 
given  and  they  had  to  begin  the  second  column  in  which 


Mental  Tests  283 

they  again  crossed  out  the  letters  for  one  minute  and  so 
on,  the  eight  columns  in  eight  minutes.  I  had  chosen  a 
newspaper  of  the  day  because  the  news  of  the  first  page 
would  work  as  a  strong  distraction  of  the  attention.  As- 
sistants examined  later  how  many  7-'s  were  crossed  out 
in  each  column  and  how  many  were  skipped  up  to  the  last 
word  which  was  reached  in  each  column.  One  man,  for 
instance,  had  in  the  first  column  16  crossed  and  3  omitted, 
in  the  second  28  crossed,  3  omitted,  in  the  third  21  crossed, 
2  omitted,  in  the  fourth  29  crossed,  13  omitted,  in  the 
fifth  40  crossed,  7  omitted,  in  the  sixth  33  crossed,  15 
omitted,  in  the  seventh  36  crossed,  11  omitted,  in  the 
eighth  32  crossed,  9  omitted.  It  is  quite  evident  how  his 
rapidity  in  the  seeing  of  r's  increases  almost  from  minute 
to  minute,  as  is  shown  by  the  number  of  crossed  r's,  but 
how  his  attention  is  exhausted  after  the  third  minute,  as 
beginning  with  the  fourth  minute  the  number  of  omitted 
letters  jumps  from  2  to  13  and  remains  large  in  the  suc- 
cessive minutes.  With  others  the  loss  was  still  greater. 
One  crossed  in  the  first  minute  21  and  omitted  only  1,  in 
the  last  minute  he  crossed  20  but  omitted  14.  One  began 
with  18,  omitting  1,  and  ended  with  24,  omitting  16.  On 
the  other  hand  one  began  with  26,  omitting  6,  and  ended 
with  28,  omitting  only  1. 

The  exact  comparison  of  the  various  results  allows  a 
very  clear  insight  into  the  attention  type  of  the  individ- 
uals. No  two  of  the  twenty-seven  men  showed  the  same 
results.  "We  had  there  the  steady  men,  the  men  who  learn 
quickly  from  practice,  the  men  who  learn  slowly,  the  men 
who  fluctuate  greatly  in  their  achievement,  the  men  who 
become  careless  after  two  or  three  or  five  minutes,  the 
men  who  are  careless  from  the  beginning,  and  so  on.  We 
summed  up  for  each  the  number  of  letters  crossed  and  also 


284  Business  Psychology 

the  number  of  letters  omitted.  On  the  basis  of  these  two 
results  we  graded  the  twenty-seven  men.  In  considering 
both  lists  we  were  fair  to  the  men  who  crossed  out  many 
but  who  omitted  many  on  account  of  their  great  quick- 
ness in  crossing,  and  also  fair  to  those  who  crossed  out 
very  few  because  they  were  so  very  deliberate  and  there- 
fore omitted  hardly  any.  The  man  who  stood  at  the  top 
of  the  list  for  not  omitting  any  had  done  it  so  slowly  that 
he  stood  twenty-fifth  in  the  list  for  crossing  out,  because 
he  covered  such  a  small  number. 

Another  test  consisted  of  reading  to  all  of  them  a  little 
item  of  three  newspaper  paragraphs  about  a  recent  for- 
est fire.  It  contained  a  considerable  mass  of  details.  As 
soon  as  they  had  heard  the  story,  they  had  to  write  it 
down  as  correctly  as  possible.  The  assistant  examined 
for  each  the  number  of  correct  details,  recorded  the  ab- 
sence of  incorrect  statements,  the  absence  of  additional, 
imagined  details,  and  the  presentation  in  logical  sequence. 
On  the  basis  of  the  results  the  rank  of  each  was  again 
determined. 

A  further  list  was  secured  by  tests  of  memory  for  num- 
bers. We  read  to  the  whole  group  of  men  at  first  several 
numbers  of  seven  digits,  then  of  eight,  of  nine,  and  of  ten 
digits.  It  was  examined  how  many  each  was  able  to 
write  down  afterward. 

While  this  refers  to  a  mechanical  memory,  the  next  test 
comes  much  nearer  to  the  examination  of  general  in- 
telligence, in  spite  of  its  apparent  form  of  a  mere  mem- 
ory test.  It  is  a  test  which  the  school  psychologists  have 
found  especially  valuable  for  the  measurement  of  general 
intelligence.  In  reality  it  is  an  associational  memory  test 
for  intelligence.    A  list  of  thirty  pairs  of  words  was  read 


Mental  Tests  285 

to  them,  each  pair  consisting  of  two  words  which  have  an 
internal  relation  of  meaning,  like  the  following: 

heart-blood 

heat-humidity 

stage-drama 

wage-profit 

telegraph-electricity 

taxes-revenue 

election-governor 

After  reading  the  list  one  of  the  two  words  was  given, 
and  they  had  to  write  down  the  other  word  of  the  pair. 
Again  they  were  ranked  according  to  the  results. 

This  ended  the  tests  which  were  performed  on  the 
twenty-seven  men  together.  Then  each  man  went  through 
five  rooms,  in  each  of  which  he  was  tested  in  individual 
experiments.  One  was  a  tachistoscopic  test.  The  man 
had  to  look  into  an  optical  instrument  in  which  various 
geometric  forms  appeared  interwoven.  He  saw  them 
by  flashlight  illumination  and  afterwards  he  had  to 
disentangle  the  various  forms  and  to  draw  them 
independently. 

The  next  test  referred  to  his  rapidity  of  reaction  tested 
by  measuring  the  time  which  it  took  him  to  sort  forty- 
eight  cards  in  four  piles  according  to  four  different  let- 
ters printed  on  them. 

After  that  each  had  a  test  where  the  names  of  American 
cities  appeared  with  their  letters  disarranged,  only  the 
first  letter  being  in  its  right  place.  The  list  began 
with  ''Chicago,"  ** Baltimore,"  and  so  on,  for  which 
**Cogaich,"  "Borimtak,"  were  printed.  The  mistakes 
and,  above  all,  the  time  were  measured.  This  test  ap- 
peared to  the  candidates  like  a  puzzle  game. 

The  last  test  referred  to  the  ability  of  the  individual 
to  inhibit  reflex  movements.    His  eye  was  protected  by  a 


286  Business  Psychology 

heavy  glass  plate.  A  small  hammer  covered  with  a  rub- 
ber cushion  fell  on  the  plate  opposite  the  eye,  and  the 
question  was  how  long  it  would  take  before  the  subject 
was  able  to  keep  his  eye  open  when  the  hammer  fell  and 
to  suppress  the  winking  of  the  eyelid.  The  intention  of 
this  experiment  is  to  bring  out  the  voluntary  control  over 
the  instinctive  impulses. 

We  gained  in  this  way  for  each  man  ten  positions  in 
ten  graded  lists,  and  we  could  add  the  numbers  of  the  ten 
positions.  If  a  man  had  been  the  best  in  every  one  of  the 
ten  tests,  the  sum  would  have  been  10,  and  if  he  had  been 
the  worst  in  all,  the  sum  would  have  been  270.  The  fact 
is  that  the  smallest  sum  was  77  and  the  highest  241. 
These  sums  allowed  a  final  grading,  and  on  the  basis  of 
this  last  list  I  recommended  the  company  to  appoint  those 
ten  men  who  had  the  ten  highest  positions  in  this  ultimate 
series  which  expressed  the  relative  standing  in  all  ten 
tests. 

IndividuaIj  Efficiency 

There  remains  only  one  question  which  may  be  ad- 
dressed to  the  psychologist,  a  question  full  of  significance 
for  anyone  who  seeks  a  career  in  the  commercial  or  in- 
dustrial world  and  who  may  face  such  psychological  tests. 
How  can  we  improve  the  mental  functions  and  abilities 
and  dispositions  in  our  mind!  How  can  we  make  our- 
selves ready  mentally  for  a  vocation  where  nature  has 
not  provided  us  with  the  right  psychical  equipment! 
How  can  we  secure  a  wider  range  of  attention,  a  better 
memory  for  faces,  a  deeper  emotional  response,  a  greater 
rapidity  of  will-impulse  ? 

We  have  discussed  this  question  repeatedly.  We  have 
spoken  above  all  about  the  fundamental  influence  of  repe- 
tition and  training  and  learning;  we  have  also  empha- 


Mental  Tests  287 

sized  the  importance  of  suggestion  and  autosuggestion, 
of  imitation  and  systematic  organization  of  impulses. 
Certainly  every  one  of  our  mental  abilities,  so  far  as  they 
are  dependent  upon  activities,  can  be  splendidly  devel- 
oped by  regular  persistent  training  and  can  be  badly  in- 
jured by  lack  of  training  and  by  careless  and  reckless 
exceptions  and  neglect.  Moreover  all  learning  of  new 
material,  all  new  knowledge  gained  by  deliberate  reading 
or  life  experience,  must  raise  the  general  standing  of  the 
mind.  Finally  we  can  learn  to  cover  our  weaknesses,  to 
substitute  one  mental  function  for  another,  to  help  out 
by  reasoning  where  the  memory  is  not  sufficient  or  to  help 
out  by  good  memory  where  the  intellect  is  weak.  Will- 
power and  training  may  become  substitutes  for  natural 
emotional  interests.  In  short  we  can  learn  to  keep  house 
with  our  resources. 

But  all  this  cannot  deceive  us  as  to  the  fundamental 
fact  that  the  decisive  tendencies  of  our  mind  are  inherited 
and  cannot  be  fundamentally  changed.  The  man  who  has 
no  memory  for  faces  may  well  learn  the  tricks  by  which 
he  can  find  out  the  name  of  the  man  he  meets  without  his 
friend's  noticing  that  he  was  not  recognized.  But  neither 
good-will  nor  training  will  furnish  him  with  that  memory 
which  he  lacks.  The  man  who  has  a  focusing  type  of  at- 
tention will  never  gain  an  expansive  type  by  merely  try- 
ing to  attend  to  various  things.  Whatever  there  is  of 
expansive  tendency  in  his  attention  may  be  somewhat  de- 
veloped by  systematic  training,  but  he  will  remain,  after 
all,  a  man  of  the  focusing  type.  If  we  are  unmusical,  we 
may  learn  to  play  the  piano  a  little,  but  we  remain  un- 
musical our  life  long. 

There  is  no  harm  in  this  situation.  There  is  no  need 
of  everyone's  being  able  to  be  everything.  Society  only 
needs  that  everyone  recognize  where  his  strength  and 


288  Business  Psychology 

where  his  weakness  lies  and  that  the  life-work  shall  not 
be  wrecked  by  a  careless  ignoring  of  these  individual 
differences.  There  is  no  mental  type  for  which  society 
has  not  a  place  where  he  can  do  useful  work  which  makes 
him  happy  and  which  serves  the  world.  Nothing  is  nec- 
essary but  to  discover  the  capacities  and  dispositions 
with  which  an  individual  has  to  make  his  struggle  for 
existence. 

This  problem,  the  greatest  which  modem  mankind  has 
before  it,  if  our  life  is  to  be  one  of  social  peace  and  hap- 
piness and  success,  can  be  answered  by  psychology  only. 
It  must  be  added,  however,  as  the  last  word,  as  it  was 
the  first,  that  it  is  not  sufficient  to  be  satisfied  with  a  kind 
of  pseudo-psychology  which  is  a  mixture  of  popular  busi- 
ness talk  and  scientific  gossip.  The  only  psychology 
which  can  help  is  a  thorough  understanding  of  the  ele- 
ments and  the  laws  of  mental  life ;  and  this  means  a  psy- 
chology which  cannot  be  absorbed  by  a  superficial  nib- 
bling, but  only  by  an  earnest,  faithful,  and  sometimes 
difficult  study. 

TEST  QUESTIONS 

1.  To  what  extent  are  testimonials  and  certificates  useful  in 
determining  upon  the  fitness  of  an  applicant  ? 

2.  What  two  main  criticisms  would  you  offer  to  the  self-ob- 
servational method  of  testing  an  applicant? 

3.  Why  is  it  essential  to  make  tests  of  the  subjective  factors  in 
a  man 's  life  1    What  are  some  of  these  factors  1 

4.  What  would  be  the  purposes  and  the  chances  of  a  com- 
mercial psychological  laboratory? 

5.  What  simple  and  useful  tests  of  sensations  might  be  made 
in  selecting  a  ribbon  salesman? 

6.  For  what  purposes  are  memory  tests  useful? 

7.  For  what  purposes  are  tachistoscopic  tests  used? 

8.  What  are  the  chief  types  of  attention  tests  ? 


Mental  Tests  289 

9.  If  you  were  planning  to  train  yourself  for  a  speed  test  in 
typewriting,  would  it  be  useful  for  you  to  know  your  reaction 
time? 

10.  Explain  some  simple  and  practical  reaction  time  tests. 

11.  How  may  associational  memory  tests  be  used  for  determin- 
ing general  intelligence? 

12.  Suggest  a  simple  experiment  for  testing  an  individual's 
ability  to  make  quick  decisions  in  a  complex  situation. 

13.  How  may  psychological  tests  be  used  in  selecting  a  street 
car  motorman?    A  telephone  operator?    A  salesman? 

14.  From  the  standpoint  of  personal  efficiency,  have  you  a  bet- 
ter understanding  of  your  own  abilities  and  the  methods  of  using 
them  to  advantage  as  a  result  of  this  study? 


REFERENCES  FOR  FURTHER  READING 
General  Psychology 

Angell,  James  R.,  Chapters  from  Modem  Psychology.    N.  Y., 

1912. 
Calkins,  Mary  "W.,  An  Introduction  to  Psychology.    N.  Y.,  1901. 
Ebbinghaus,  Hermann,  Psychology  (Tr.).     Boston,  1908. 
James,  William,  Principles  of  Psychology   (2  Vols.).    N.  Y., 

1890. 
Judd,  Charles  H.,  Psychology:  General  Introduction.    N.  Y., 

1907. 
McDougall,  William,  Psychology:  The  Study  of  Behavior.    Lon- 
don, 1912. 
Miinsterberg,  Hugo,  Psychology:  General  and  Applied.    N.  Y., 

1914. 
Pillsbury,  W.  B.,  The  Essentials  of  Psychology.    N.  Y.,  1912. 
Schuke,   R.,   Experimental  Psychology   and  Pedagogy    (Tr.). 

N.  Y.,  1912. 
Stout,  G.  F.,  A  Manual  of  Psychology.    London,  1913. 
Titchener,   Edward  B.,   Experimental  Psychology    (4   Parts). 

N.  Y.,  1909. 
Titchener,  Edward  B.,  A  Textbook  of  Psychology.    N.  Y.,  1911. 
Wundt,  Wilhelm,  Lectures  on  Huma/a  and  Animal  Psychology 

(Tr.).     London,  1894. 
Yerkes,  Robert  M,,  Introduction  to  Psychology.    N.  Y.,  1911. 

Special  Topics 

Baldwin,  J.  Mark,  Mental  Development  in  the  Child  and  the 

Race.    N.Y.,  1895. 
Dessoir,   Max,   Outlines  of   tJie  History  of  Psychology    (Tr.). 

N.  Y.,  1912. 

290 


References  291 

EUwood,  Charles  A.,  Sociology  in  its  Psychological  Aspects. 
N.  Y.,  1912. 

Gross,  Hans,  Criminal  Psychology  (Tr.).     Boston,  1911. 

Hall,  G.  Stanley,  AdolesceTice  (2  Vols.).     N.  Y.,  1905. 

Jastrow,  Joseph,  The  Subconscious.     Boston,  1906. 

Le  Bon,  Gustave,  The  Psychology  of  Peoples  (Tr.).    N.  Y.,  1898. 

McDougall,  William,  Body  and  Mind.     N.  Y.,  1911. 

McDougall,  William,  An  Introduction  to  Social  Psychology. 
London,  1908. 

Meyer,  Max,  The  Fundamental  Laws  of  Human  Behavior.  Bos- 
ton, 1911. 

Miinsterberg,  Hugo,  Psychology  and  Life.     Boston,  1899. 

Miinsterberg,  Hugo,  On  the  Witness  Stand.     N.  Y.,  1908. 

Miinsterberg,  Hugo,  Psychotherapy.    N.  Y.,  1909. 

Myers,  Charles  S.,  A  Textbook  of  Experimental  Psychology 
(2  Vols.).    Cambridge,  1911. 

Pillsbury,  W.  B.,  Attention.    London,  1908. 

Prince,  Morton,  The  Unconscious.    N.  Y.,  1914. 

Rand,  Benjamin,  The  Classical  Psychologists.    Boston,  1912. 

Scott,  Walter  D.,  The  Psychology  of  Public  Speaking.  Philadel- 
phia, 1907. 

Starbuek,  Edwin  D.,  The  Psychology  of  Religion.    London,  1908. 

Stratton,  George  M.,  Experimental  Psychology  and  its  Bearing 
upon  Culture.    N.  Y.,  1903. 

Business  Psychology 

Book,  WilHam  F.,  The  Psychology  of  Skill.    Missoula,  1908. 
Blackford,  Katherine  M.  H.,  and  Newcomb,  Arthur,  The  Job,  the 

Man  and  the  Boss.     N.  Y.,  1914. 
Colvin,  Stephen  S.,  The  Learning  Process.    N.  Y.,  1912. 
Emeraon,    Harrington,    The    Twelve   Principles    of   Efficiency. 

N.  Y.,  1912. 
Gilbreth,  Frank  B.,  Motion  Study.    N.  Y.,  1911. 
Gilbreth,  L.  M.,  The  Psychology  of  Management.    N.  Y.,  1914. 
Goldmark,  Josephine,  Fatigue  and  Efficiency.    N.  Y.,  1912. 
HoUingworth,  Harry  L.,  The  Influence  of  Caffevn  on  Mental  and 

Motor  Efficiency.    N.  Y.,  1912. 


292  Business  Psychology 

Hollingworth,  Harry  L.,  Advertising  and  Selling.    N.  Y.,  1913. 
Meumann,  E.,  The  Psyclwlogy  of  Learning  (Tr.).    N.  Y.,  1913. 
Mosso,  A.,  Fatigue  (Tr.).     London,  1906. 
Miinsterberg,  Hugo,  Psychology  and  Industrial  Efficiency.    Bos 

ton,  1913. 
Miinsterberg,  Hugo,  Psychology  and  Social  Sanity.    N.  Y.,  1914. 
Parsons,  Frank,  Choosing  a  Vocation.    Boston,  1909. 
Scott,  Walter  D.,  TJie  Psychology  of  Advertising.     Boston,  1910. 
Seashore,  Carl  E.,  Psychology  in  Daily  Life.    N.  Y.,  1913. 
Taylor,  Frederick  W.,  Shop  Managemmt.     N.  Y.,  1903. 
Taylor,  Frederick  W.,  The  Principles  of  Scientific  Management. 

N.  Y.,  1911. 
Thorndike,    Edward    L.,    Educational   Psychology    (3    Vols.). 

N.  Y.,  1913. 


INDEX 


Abilities,  acquirement  of,  165.  See  also 
Efficiency. 

Abnormal   mind.     See  Psychology. 

Accidents,  industrial,  102.  See  also 
Attention. 

Actions :  abnormal,  142 ;  automatic, 
139  ;  their  brain  causes,  39  ;  unity  of 
mental  and  physical,  137 ;  will- 
actions,   33.   141.     -See  also   Will. 

Activities  :  influenced  by  attention,  99  ; 
of  mental  processes,  135  ff.  See  also 
Attention. 

Activity,  40. 

Advertising :  attention  in,  105 ;  ex- 
perimental investigations  in,  106 ; 
feeling  of  value  in,  128;  value  of 
suggestion  in,  161.  See  also  Atten- 
tion ,-   Feeling ;    Suggestion. 

Age  differences,  239.  See  also  Psychol- 
ogy ;  Selection." 

Alcohol,  effects  of,  194  ff.  See  also 
Efficiency. 

Animal   intelligence,  15. 

Animal  mind.     See   Psychology. 

Artist,  the,  and  psychology,  19. 

Association,  tests  for,  266.  See  also 
Tests,  Mental. 

Attention :  aids  to,  in  business,  101 ; 
application  of,  to  advertising,  105 ; 
application  of,  to  business.  100 ;  ap- 
plication of,  to  selling,  104  ff. ;  con- 
centrated, 104 ;  concrete  problems 
in,  98  ;  diffuse,  104  ;  effect  of  feelings 
upon,  109 ;  exclusion  in,  92 ;  experi- 
mental investigations  In,  106 ;  feel- 
ing of  one's  self  in,  96 ;  four  proc- 
esses in,  91 ;  how  awakened,  98 ;  how 
held,  99 ;  how  secured,  97  ;  individ- 
ual differences  in,  104  ;  Influenced  by 
motives,  97  ;  meaning  of,  88 ;  monot- 
ony in  work  as  undermining,  103 ; 
not  merely  awareness,  89  ff. ;  rela- 
tion of,  to  industrial  accidents,  102 ; 
tests  for,  208  ff. ;  transition  to  activ- 
ity in,  94 ;  vividness  of,  91 ;  volun- 
tary and  involuntary,  91.  See  also 
Feeling ;  Tests,  Mental. 

Awareness,  attention  not  merely, 
89  ff. :  differentiated  from  perception, 
57. 

Behavior :  explainable  to  the  scientist, 
39 ;  physical  basis  of  human,  38 ; 
reveals  consciousness,  30,  32. 

Blackford  plan,  the,  250.  See  also 
Selection. 


Bodily  disturbances  and  mental  abnor- 
malities,  connection  between,  34. 

Body  and  mind,  relation  of,  32,  33,  40. 

Brain  :  affected  by  chemical  substances, 
33 ;  a  "switchboard,"  36 ;  corre- 
spondence between  brain  and  mind, 
35  ;  context  of  the,  37  ;  functions  of, 
35 ;  gray  and  white  substance  in, 
37 ;  impulse  of,  in  case  of  sound,  68 ; 
intermediate  between  sense  organs 
and  muscles,  35 ;  processes  of,  the 
physical  cause  of  behavior,  35.  See 
also  Sensations. 

Business :  an  affair  of  minds,  5,  25 ; 
application  of  psychology  to,  4,  18, 
23,  24 ;  "attention"  in,  100 ;  knowl- 
edge of  facts  in,  how  secured,  42  ff. ; 
perceptions  must  be  analyzed  in,  71 ; 
personality  a  factor  in,  7  ;  practical 
uses  of  suggestion  in,  156  ;  psychol- 
ogy needed  in,  to  co-ordinate  mental 
equipment,  5 ;  psychology  not  a 
"cure-all"  in,  24  ;  success  in,  depends 
on  mastery  of  minds,  6 ;  the  will  and 
Impulse  in,  147 ;  value  of  standard- 
ization in,  178.  See  also  Attention ; 
Efficiency  ;   Suggestion  ;   Will. 

Business  questions,  psychological  treat- 
ment of,  26. 

Business  psychology,  not  distinct  from 
science  of  psychology  itself,  8.  See 
also   Psychology. 

Cell  body,  the,  defined,  37. 

Character,  230.  See  also  Mental 
Traits. 

Characteristics,  accidental,  221.  See 
also  Llndgren,  Charles. 

Child  mind.    See  Psychology. 

Chronoscope,  use  of  in  psychological 
experiments,  opp.  p.   14. 

Clairvoyance,  16. 

Clerk,  use  of  psychology  In  studying 
the,  6,  19,  27,  31,  39. 

Color  :  analysis  of,  44  ff. ;  application 
of  knowledge  concerning,  48  f. ; 
effect  of  eye  structure  on  color  Im- 
pressions, 38. 

Commerce  and  industry,  2.  See  also 
Business. 

Commercial  endeavors,   progress  in,   1. 

Consciousness :  analysis  of,  39 ;  con- 
tent of,  30,  87;  of  the  Individual, 
28 ;    revealed  by  behavior,  30. 

Contentment,  value  of,  205.  See  also 
Efficiency. 


293 


294 


Index 


Control,  power  of,  when  affected,  152. 
See  also  Saggestlon ;  Will. 

Correlation  psychology,  243. 

Customer,  use  of  psychology  in  study- 
ing the,  6,  19,  27,  30,  39. 

Dppth  and  distance,  perception  of,  65. 
DiflerenceB,    individual,    104.    £ee  alto 

Attention. 
Disease,    efTects   of,    34. 
Ltisplay,   106.    See  aUo  Attention. 
Distance :     depth    and,    65 ;    perception 

of,  64. 
Dreams,  17 ;  effect  of,  on  mental  life, 

33. 

Effectiveness.    See  Efficiency. 

Efficiency :  adaptation  of  individual, 
186 ;  adaptation  of  tools,  182  ;  basic 
factors  in.  231 ;  bodily  and  mental, 
38  :  causes  affecting,  20S  :  conscious 
effort  reaulred,  169 ;  consists  in 
training  right  impulses,  168 ;  and  in 
excluding  errors,  168 ;  contentment, 
value  of,  205 :  effect  of  emotions  on 
physical  condition,  205 ;  exceptions 
to  be  avoided  in,  170;  fatigue  a 
factor  in,  169,  199 ;  how  psychology 
can  assist,  181 ;  in  physical  as  well 
as  mental  sphere,  165 ;  individual, 
286 ;  inner  conditions  of,  194  ;  keep- 
ing the  end  in  view,  176 ;  laws  and 
rules  for  acquiring,  165 ;  motion 
studies,  188;  organization  of  effort 
in,  171-72;  of  complex  habits,  172- 
74;  outer  conditions  of,  181;  pe- 
riodic curves  in,  202-3 ;  proper  en- 
vironment, 190 ;  psycho-muscular 
adaptations,  187 ;  reaction  to  fatigue, 
202 ;  repetition  as  an  aid  In  acquir- 
ing, 106;  rest  periods,  200;  rhyth- 
mical action,  186  ;  stimulants,  effects 
of,  198  ff.  See  also  Vocational  Fit- 
ness. 

Effort    See  Efficiency. 

Emotion :  effect  of,  205 ;  nature  of, 
124 ;  physiological  factors  in,  206. 
See  also  Efficiency ;  Feeling. 

Emotion  and  feeling,  109  ;  emotion  re- 
enforces  feeling-appeal,  125.  See 
also  Feeling  and  Emotion. 

Exclusion  in  attention,  92.  See  also 
Attention. 

Experience :  bow  analyzed,  39 ;  in- 
fluence of,  222  ff.,  231;  not  dis- 
carded by  psychology,  19. 

Experiences,  a  source  of  memory,  84. 
See  also  Memory. 

Eye,  effect  of  structure  of,  on  color 
impressions,  48. 

Fatigue :  blood  circulation  in,  203 ; 
causes  of,  199 ;  reaction  to,  202 ; 
consequences  of,  34.  See  also  Ef- 
ficiency. 

Feeling :  aesthetic,  effect  of,  125 ;  af- 
fecting physical  well-being,  117 ;  and 
emotion.  53,  109  ff. ;  color  in,  118 ; 
complexity  and  variety  of,  120 ; 
contrasting,  in  varieties  of  person- 
ality. 115 ;  development  of  personal- 
ity in.  111 ;  effect  of,  on  attention. 


109 ;  elementary  laws  of,  116 ;  feel- 
ing-appeal re-enforced  by  emotion, 
125 ;  hysterical  splitting  of  person- 
ality, 114 ;  Imagination,  a  variety 
of,  132  ff. ;  indifference  in,  116 ; 
light  in,  118;  nature  of,  lUU,  124; 
of  one's  self,  96 ;  organic  response 
to,  123;  pain,  117;  physical,  moutal, 
and  social,  127;  realization  of  st-lt' 
In,  110;  response  of  body  to,  120  ff. ; 
sound  In,  118;  symmetry  in  objects. 
119 ;  the,  of  value,  in  advertising. 
128;  in  work,  130;  the  self  in,  113. 
See  also  Attention. 
Feelings,  testa  of,  273.  £«e  also  Tests, 
IfentaL 

Graphology,    247.     Bee  also    Selection. 
Group  psychology,  236. 

Habits,  complex.     See  Efficiency. 

Hallucination,   75  f. 

Uaadwriting.  See  Graphology ;  Psy- 
chology ;    Selection. 

Hypnotism,  17,  154.  See  also  Sugges- 
tion. 

Ideas :  abstract,  bow  acquired,  85 ; 
and  memory,  71 :  material  for  com- 
plex thought,  85 ;  not  knowledge, 
86 ;  the  concern  of  psychology,  29. 
See  also  Memory. 

Illusions,  visual,  60  ff. ;  illustrated, 
61  ff. ;  influence   of,   on  impulse,'  64. 

Imagination,  value  of,  74,  132  ff.  &'ee 
also  Feeling. 

Impressions:  and  their  meaning,  71 ; 
how  produced  on  the  mind,  32 ;  men- 
tal. 75 ;  more  vivid  than  memory 
images,  76 ;  relation  of.  to  industry. 
71 ;  reproduction  of,  77.  See  also 
Memory. 

Impulse,  effect  of  visual  illusions  on, 
64.     See  also  Will. 

Industry :  science  in,  2,  3 ;  value  of 
standardization  in,  178.  See  also 
Business ;  Efficiency. 

Instinct,  value  of,  in  psychology,  19. 

Intelligence,  defined,  228.  See  also 
Mental  Traits. 

Interest,  40. 

Interests,  88  ff. 

Inventions,  effect  of,  on  industry,  2. 

Knowledge,  40. 

Kymograph,  the,  illustrated,  opp.  p. 
122  and  p.  190. 

Law  and  psychology,  connection  be- 
tween, 21,  22. 

Life,  applicability  of  psychology  to,  22  ; 
mental,  altered  during  intoxication, 
34  ;  unity  of  bodily  and  mental,  33. 

Light  impressions,  results  of,  59. 

Lindgren,  Charles,  220.  See  also  Men- 
tal Traits. 

Medicine  and  psychology,  connection 
between,  21,  22. 

Memory :  abstract  ideas  in  place  of, 
85 ;  and  ideas,  73 ;  association  of 
ideas  in,  78  ff. ;  connections  in,  81 ; 


Index 


295 


connections  in  disease,  114 ;  con- 
sciousness in,  87  ;  differences  in,  77  ; 
how  studied,  12 ;  Imagination  de- 
pendent on,  74 ;  impressions  re- 
newed by,  75  ;  influence  of,  on  actions, 
73 ;  knowledge  of  operation  of,  in 
others,  necessary  in  business,  78 ; 
memory-process,  the,  83 ;  selective- 
ness  of,  81 ;  tests  of,  265  ;  training 
of,  77 ;  works  in  accordance  with 
definite  laws.  78.  See  also  Feeling ; 
Tests,  Mental. 

Memory-process,  the,  83.  See  also 
Memory. 

Mental  act,  elements   of,   39. 

Mental  functions,     grouped,    40. 

Mental  life,  prineipTes  of,  25-26. 

Mental  processes,  activities  of,  135. 

Mentality  of  animals,  compared  with 
human — undeveloped,  abnormal,  nor- 
mal, 16. 

Mental  traits :    accidental   characteris- 
tics, 221  ;  basic  factors,  231  ;  charac- 
ter,   230;    experience,    222    fE.,    231 
hindrances  in  measurement  of,  226 
importance  of  classification  of,  219 
inherited    dispositions,    227  ;    intelli- 
gence, 228 ;  Llndgren's  classification, 
220 ;    psychological   method   of    clas- 
sifying,   225  ;    Schneider's    classifica- 
tion,     222-24 ;     temperament,     229 ; 
tests   for,    2'o6,   259-89 ;    use   of  clas- 
sification of,  220.    See  also  Selection. 

Mind :  and  body,  relation  of,  27,  32, 
33,  40 ;  defined,  32 ;  effect  of  influ- 
ence on,  32  ;  experimental  study  of, 
13 ;  factors  of,  40 ;  power  of,  in  busi- 
ness, 5  ;  source  of  knowledge  of  rela- 
tionships, 58. 

Mind-act,  study  of,  where  to  begin  and 
end,  40. 

Monotony  In  work,  103.  See  also  At- 
tention. 

Motion  studies,  188.  See  also  Effi- 
ciency. 

Motives,  an  influence  on  attention, 
97  S.. ;  concrete  application  of,  97  £E. 

Motor  nerves,  30. 

Mysticism,  avoided  by  scientific  psy- 
chologist, 16 ;  distinguished  from 
science,  17.     See  also  Psychology. 

Nervous  system :  after-effects  of  im- 
pressions on,  39 ;  responsiveness  of, 
38. 

Neurasthenia,  17. 

Neurons,  the  sensory  and  motor,  36,  37. 

Observation  of  self,  259. 

Pain,  117.     See  also  Feeling. 
Pedagogy    and    psychology,    connection 

between,  20,  22. 
Perception  differs  from  awareness,  57. 
Perceptions,   32 ;   differ   from   memory, 

thought,  or  imagination  Impressions, 

76 ;     relation    of,    to    memory    and 

thoughts,  40 ;  tests  of,  2G4.    Bee  also 

Tests,  Mental 
Personality  :    a  factor  In  business,   7 ; 

defined,    112 ;    development   of.    111 ; 

\7aterical  splitting  of,   114 ;  nature 


of,  110 ;  physical,  mental,  and  social, 
127.    See  also  Feeling. 

Phrenology,  248.  See  also  Psychology  ; 
Selection. 

Physiological  laboratories :  commer- 
cial. 263 ;  definition  of,  13 ;  equip- 
ment of,  13  ;  use  of,  13.  See  also 
Tests,  Mental. 

Pitch,  49. 

Pleasure  in  work,  value  of,  130.  See 
also  Feeling. 

Psychological  study,  material  for,  27. 

Psychology:  abnormal,  16;  aids  analy- 
sis of  perceptions,  71 :  animal  world 
resorted  to  in  study  of,  15  ;  answers 
numerous  problems  of  business  world. 
V ;  application  of,  18 ;  in  business 
life,  4,  5,  18 ;  assists  in  co-ordinating 
mental  equipment  in  business,  5 ; 
Blackford  plan,  250 ;  books  on,  fre- 
quently superficial,  25 ;  cautions  in 
discarding  experience  and  tradition, 
19 ;  child  mind,  16 ;  color,  analysis 
of,  in,  44  ff. ;  commercial  psycholog- 
ical laboratories,  263 ;  concerned 
with  classification  of  groups,  219 ; 
consists  of  study  of  concrete  mate- 
rial, 11 ;  contributes  to  industrial 
progress.  2  ff. ;  correlation  psychol- 
ogy, 243  ;  defined,  3  ;  desires,  studied 
by,  how,  29 ;  determines  value  and 
adaptability  of  tools,  machinery, 
employe,  181  ff. ;  "dynamogenic  In- 
fluence," 191 ;  efficiency  of  body  and 
mind  in.  oS  ;  examination  of  mental 
traits,  211 ;  experimental  investiga- 
tions In  attention,  106  f. ;  experi- 
mental method  in,  11 ;  experiments 
in,  bow  conducted,  14  ;  secure  inde- 
pendence of  chance,  12 ;  feelings, 
studied  by,  how,  29 ;  fundamental 
thought  in,  137 ;  graphology,  247 ; 
group  psychology,  236 ;  how  differs 
from  philosophy,  10;  how  to  study, 
7 ;  ideas  studied  by,  how,  29  ;  in  in- 
dustry, 3,  5,  6 ;  its  field,  3 ;  knowl- 
edge of,  essential  to  man  of  affairs, 
7 ;  laboratory  employed  In  study  of, 
13  ;  law  and,  21,  22  ;  material  appli- 
cation of,  10  ff. ;  material  for  its 
study,  27 ;  medicine  and,  21,  122 ; 
memories,  studied  by,  how,  29 ;  mem- 
ory-process, a  disputed  subject  in, 
83 ;  mental  factors  separable  for 
analysis  in,  11  ff. ;  mental  functions 
of  animals  throw  light  on  working 
of  human  mind,  15  ;  mysticism  and, 
16 ;  no  business  psychology  distinct 
from  the  main  science  of.  8 ;  nothing 
mysterious  in,  17 ;  old  vs.  new, 
10  ff. ;  phrenology,  248 ;  "popular" 
books  on,  24  ;  psycho-muscular  adap- 
tations, 187  ;  school-teachers  and,  20, 
122,  123 ;  scientific  management 
through.  216 ;  scope  and  methods  of, 
10 ;  services  of,  in  efficiency,  181 ; 
social  psychology,  236 ;  study  of 
mind  of  customer,  employe,  etc., 
6,  19,  27,  30,  39 ;  success  In  busi- 
ness, dependent  on  mastery  of,  6 ; 
understanding  of,  v,  24  ;  use  of,  in 
determining   individual    traits,    225 ; 


296 


Index 


use  of  laboratory  In  stady  of,  13 ; 
▼ocatlonal  ^idance  by,  215 ;  roli- 
tlons,  studied  by,  how.  29.  See  alto 
Bfficiency  ;  Memory  ;  Tralta,  Mental ; 
Vocational  Fitness. 
Psycho-muscular  adaptations,  187.  Bet 
also  Efficiency. 

Beactlon  time,  275.  Bee  aUo  Tests, 
Mental. 

Beality,  our  relationship  to,  80. 

Ilepetition  :  conscious  effort  necessary 
in,  160 ;  exceptions  to  be  avoided  in, 
170 ;  influence  of,  on  nervous  system, 
167  :  learning  by,  166.  Bee  also  Ef- 
ficiency. 

Rest,  use  of,  201.     Bee  alao  Efficiency. 

Bhytiimical  action,  iSO.  Bee  also  Bf- 
ficiency. 

Salesmansliip,  222 ;  yalue  of  sugges- 
tiou  in,  l.">7.    Bee  also  Sujigestiou. 

Schneider,  Hermann,  222--4.  Bee  alto 
Mental  Traits. 

Scientific  mauagement,  216.  Bee  also 
Efficiency ;  I'sycUology ;  Vocational 
Fitness. 

Selection  :  age  differences,  239  ;  Black- 
ford plan,  200 ;  correlation  psychol- 
ogy, 243 ;  graphology,  247 ;  group 
psychology.  236 ;  mental  tests,  259- 
89  ;  phrenology,  248  ;  sex  differences, 
240 ;  social  psychology,  236 ;  use  of 
correlations,  245  ;  varieties  of,  235. 
Bee  also  rsychology. 

Self:  many  personalities  in,  113;  the 
nature  of,  llO.     Bee  also  Feeling. 

Self -observation,  259. 

Self-suggestion,  162.  Bee  also  Sugges- 
tion. 

Selling,  attention  in,  104  S.  See  also 
Attention. 

Sensations  :  grouping  of,  57  ;  illusions, 
bow  produced,  43 ;  illusions  in  con- 
nection with  senses,  43  ;  nature  of, 
42 :  of  feeling,  53  ;  of  sight,  60 ;  of 
smell,  52  ;  of  sound,  4t) ;  of  taste.  51 ; 
of  touch,  52 ;  perceptions  grouped, 
67-71 ;  relation  to  industrial  ef- 
ficiency of  mental  and  physical,  55 ; 
tests  of,  264 ;  the  basis  of  knowledge, 
87.    See  also  Brain  :  Tests.  Mental. 

Sense  organs,  enumerated,  35. 

Sensory  nerves.  35. 

Sex  differences,  240.  Bee  also  Psy- 
chology ;  Selection. 

Sight  impressions,  50. 

Smell  sensations,  52,  59. 

Social  psychology,  236. 

Soul,  defined,  28. 

Sound :  localization  of,  67 ;  sensa- 
tions,   40. 

Space,    perceptions    of,    66 ;    how    ac- 

?uired,  58. 
ritualism,  16. 
Slandardlzatlon,    value   of,    178.      Bee 

also  Efficiency. 
Stimulants.  19S.     Bee  also  Efficiency. 
SuggestiWlity,     defined,     153-54.      Bee 

also  Suggestion. 
Suggestion :     conditions    operating    in, 
164;  defined,  160,  153;  from  point 


of  view  of  customer,  161 ;  hypnotism, 
154 ,  In  advertising,  161 ;  in  sales- 
manship, I.'')?  :  nature  of.  153  ;  part 
played  by  fatigue,  credulousness,  or 
Intoxication  in,  1.'2 :  by  hope  and 
fear  in,  154 ;  practical  uses  of,  in 
business,  156  fr. :  splf -suggestion  an 
aid  to  efficiency,  162. 

Taste  sensations,  51. 

Teachers,  psychology  needed  by,  20,  28. 

Telepathy,  16. 

Temperament,  229.  Bee  also  Mental 
Traits. 

Tests,  mental :  association,  266  ;  atten- 
tion, 268  ff. ;  commercial  psyctiolog- 
Ical  laboratories,  263  ;  feelings,  273  ; 
measurement  of  reaction  time,  276 ; 
memory  tests,  265  ;  motormen,  278 ; 
naval  officers,  279  ;  perceptions,  264  ; 
self-observation,  250 ;  purpose  of, 
261 ;  sensations,  264 ;  siibjective 
factors,  202 ;  telephone  operators, 
282  ;  test  cards,  281 :  traveling  sales- 
men, 282 ;  use  of,  278.  See  also 
Efficiency  ;  Mental  Traits  ;  Psychol- 
ogy ;  Vocational  Fitness. 

Thought  combinations,  74. 

Timbre,  49,  50. 

Time,  perception  of,  68. 

Tone,  49,  59. 

Touch   sensations,   52. 

Transition  to  activity,  94.  Bee  •!•• 
Attention. 

Value,  the  feeling  of,  128.  Bee  al«« 
Feeling. 

Vividness  of  attention,  91.  Bee  also 
Attention. 

Vocational  bureaus,  214. 

Vocational  fitness :  basic  factors  tn. 
231  ;  instrument  for  determining 
(illustrated),  opp.  p.  226;  misfits, 
how  remedied,  213 ;  personal  mental 
traits,  how  examined,  211 ;  psy- 
chology an  aid  in  scientific  manage- 
ment, 216 ;  vocational  bureaus,  214. 
Bee  also  Efficiency ;  Mental  Traits ; 
Psychology. 

Will :  abnormal  mind  and  the,  142 ; 
action  a  product  of  the.  when,  136 
ff. ;  actions  of  the,  contrasted  with 
automatic  actions.  141 ;  application 
of,  to  business,  147 ;  automatic  ac- 
tions without  special  act  of,  1.39 ; 
can  become  automatic,  when.  146 ; 
complexity  of  the,  135  ;  defined.  135 ; 
development  of  will-power,  143  ff. ; 
modern  view  of  part  played  by  the. 
In  action,  137 ;  tendency  of  oft- 
repeated  will-action.  142 ;  will-ac- 
tions, defined  and  limited,  141.  Bee 
also  Attention ;  Suggestion. 

Will-actions,  33,  141. 

Will-power,  development  of.  143  ff. 
Bee  also  Will. 

Work,  value  of  pleasure  in,  130.  Bee 
also  Feeling. 

Workman,  use  of  pyscbology  in  stadjr* 
ing  the,  6.  19,  27,  30.  39. 


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